‘There are kids who won’t be able to stand tall – I’m lucky I went private’, says Irish model in scoliosis op warning | KO47C80 | 2024-05-12 00:08:01
'There are kids who won't be able to stand tall – I'm lucky I went private', says Irish model in scoliosis op warning | KO47C80 | 2024-05-12 00:08:01
A MODEL and former scoliosis patient has backed The Irish Sun's Kids Can't Wait campaign and called for the criteria of surgery to change so kids get seen sooner.
Katie O'Connor, 20, is a former Miss Dublin and a runner-up Miss Universe Ireland. But less than a decade ago, she was suffering with a curved spine and a diagnosis of scoliosis.
Diagnosed when she was just 11, Katie finally had her much-needed surgery as she was turning 15 after her parents decided to go private.
And as she sees other young people languishing on waiting lists today — something our Kids Can't Wait campaign is pushing to change — Katie said she was "very lucky" her family were able to choose that option.
She told the Irish Sun: "Not everyone gets that luxury. That's why I advocate a lot for those that don't go private because I understand.
"I know from myself it would have been really bad if I didn't go private. A lot of people can't do that and it's terrible to see because I couldn't even imagine where I'd be today if I didn't have what I had.
"A lot of scoliosis patients don't just have one curve but some have two. I had two, so if I didn't correct my major curve it would have really affected the second curve."
Katie added: "I have benefited so much from having spinal fusion surgery in a timely manner.
"This allows me to live a full and active life. Due to the delays and waiting lists, there are so many children who will never get to stand tall and be active.
"I think it's amazing that the Kids Can't Wait campaign is highlighting this, so all scoliosis patients have a chance to stand tall together and fight this matter, allowing them to live their lives to the fullest."
Katie said at present, kids' spines have to get to a particular degree of curve before they are then placed on the waiting list for surgery.
<!-- End of Brightcove Player --> But she said if docs noted how fast the spine is curving, they could plan ahead and pencil in ops for when they reach that point — rather than only starting the process then.
Katie added: "It's so sad to see because the most crucial thing about the waiting list is you only get on them when you need the surgery.
"You have to fit a criteria. So once the degrees on the curvature on your spine is just about 50-degrees, they then recommend surgery.
"It's only then that they are putting you on the list."
And Katie is well aware of the risks when you do get on the list.
She said: "If it's left so long, it's life-threatening for these kids. It's your spine at the end of the day and that's the base of your body.
"The more the curve goes, it shifts organs. My organs were shifted and I did the operation at the right time. So you can only imagine how much, if you're left on the list for a couple of years, it affects other things.
"So your spine isn't your only problem if you are left on the list for too long. Then it becomes a matter of organs and what's been crushed — it's the whole insides of your body."
</div> </div> And Katie warned that while surgery is the start to the road to recovery, young people and their parents need to know the mental health journey they will take too.
She added: "Post-surgery, the mental health side of it is a lot. It does really take a toll on you.
"And I think that should be talked about a lot more with the surgery.
"But it's only when I went through it personally myself that you realise it's not just physically you are affected.
"I never expected to be as low as I was afterwards. But that does come hand in hand.
"You just think 'I'm physically going to be a lot better', and you eventually are, but you don't think of the other side — the things you are not able to do for a while.
"I remember post-surgery I wasn't able to do as much as brush my teeth on my own and it sounds crazy but these things aren't talked about and it really does get to you."
She added: "I had to spend a lot of time in bed, I couldn't really go places on my own — you always have to have someone with you."
Katie last month abseiled in Dublin's Croke Park to raise money for Straight Ahead, a charity that carries out ops in Crumlin to ease some of the burden on the waiting list.
The surgeon who carried out Katie's op, Dr Pat Kiely, founded the charity and does as many as he can yearly pro bono.
On Katie's Instagram page, and in her modelling, she proudly shows off her back and her scars.
She said: "It gets it out there to normalise the scars of people, and promotes that scoliosis patients and people with scars can still do what they want to do and they don't have to be ashamed."
- SIGN our Kids Can't Wait petition at TheSun.ie.
More >> https://ift.tt/mSOG9nq Source: MAG NEWS
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