My daughter Grace is 5 years old and was born with infantile idiopathic scoliosis. Grace is the second youngest of my 7 children and I could tell there was something different about her soon after she was born. My concerns were waved off at first but when Grace was 5 months old and trying to sit up, it became even more noticeable. I took Grace to her doctor who suggested it could be scoliosis and referred her to the scoliosis centre near us.

After seeing Grace, her surgeon immediately suggested casting, with the aim to hold the curve to prevent it from worsening. Grace’s cast was replaced every 3 months.

Grace is a bright little girl, not someone you can get anything past. She is starting to ask more questions, noticing a difference between her and her siblings. Grace asked me recently why she was born this way and I explained that everyone is different and unique, and that Grace is like a tree, a tree is not always going to grow perfectly straight but is still beautiful.

Casting didn’t successfully control the curve as much as hoped unfortunately, and her curve did continue to grow over the years, with it now sitting at 100 degrees. The casting has stopped now and Grace will very soon go in for surgery to start a new phase of treatment, growing rods.

I have learnt not to take anything for granted. Our goal is to get Grace to a point where she can take ballet classes. Grace loves anything to do with ballet but isn’t very steady on her feet at the moment. The thought of that will be something to look forward to and remind her of the reason she’s going through these treatments. Grace has had photos taken each year of her life with her in her brace, a tradition they will continue with. I want my daughter to look back on this and see what she’s gone through, for her to see how strong she is and to take pride in her scars and experiences because it will show how hard she worked. I would say to other parents going through this to stay positive and stick to their goals.