CHRONICLE 15-16 ISSUE 14

Campus chronicle.durhamcollege.ca March 21 - 27, 2017 The Chronicle 7
Scoliosis: Face of hope
Frank Katradis
The Chronicle
When Melissa Carroll was only
twelve years old she was given a
diagnosis that would change her
life. She was told she had scoliosis.
According to mayoclinic.org,
scoliosis is a sidewayas curvature of
the spine. Something that is more
common in women than men.
It has been noted that cerebral
palsy and muscular dystrophy can
cause the disease, but for the majority
of patients suffering from scoliosis
the cause remains unknown.
It happens mainly during growth
spurts. Many cases do not require
treatment.
However, that wasn’t the case for
Carroll.
Her spine formed in the shape
of the letter “S” with a 56 degree
curve. As time progressed, Carroll
faced many issues.
Photograph by Frank Katradis
Melissa Carroll, who has gone through two surgeries to try and fix her spine, is happy to help
other girls facing scoliosis.
Photograph provided by Melissa Carroll
An X-ray of Melissa Carroll, showing the two metal rods that
were fused to her spine.
“A lot of my problems regarded
around my legs, and my spine obviously,”
she says. “I was just very
uncomfortable a lot of the time. I
couldn’t walk for long distances, I
couldn’t sit for long periods of time,
my right leg would go numb pretty
much the majority of the time. I just
had a lot of problems doing anything
physical, it just impacted me
pretty severely.”
Dr. Nicholas Antony, a chiropractor
at the Campus Health
Centre, and adjunct professor for
the Faculty of Kinesiology and
Health Sciences for the University
of Ontario Institute of Technology
(UOIT), has had many patients
come to him with similar issues
from scoliosis.
“Typically, what I see, in terms of
complaints is that as a result of the
curvature, muscles are tight joints
are sore,” says Antony. “And with
prolonged postures which typically
aggravate people in general, it
will make people that have scoliosis
more prone to muscle tightness,
sprains, strains with more repetitive
or prolonged sitting.”
“It impacted how I grew up and
who I became,” says Carroll. “I was
so young when I first found out that
I had it and it was such a quick process
to me learning you have this
disorder and just straight to ‘I need
to have a spine surgery’. It was so
overwhelming for me that I had a
hard time going to school, really
connecting with people, because I
felt like I was different, I felt there
was something severely different
about me versus others.”
Carroll had her first surgery
September 30, 2013. She had a full
spinal fusion, which is the procedure
of permanently joining two or
more vertebrate to form one solid
bone with no space in between,
according to Healthline.com.Carroll
had two titanium rods surgically
placed alongside her spine
with eight bolts and six screws to
help keep it straight. The surgery
didn’t just affect Carroll physically
though. It also impacted her mentally.
“I was always active, I always
played sports, I was a very sociable
person,” she says. “I loved to
be out and about with people, and
after my first surgery I physically
couldn’t go out just because I
couldn’t do anything. I lost everything
that kinda gave me joy in
life.”
Not able to do much, and feeling
different from others, Carroll
began to isolate herself.
Melissa Bosomworth, a life coach
for Durham College’s Access and
Support Centre (ASC), says mental
health for everyone is different,
but isolation mainly has negative
effects on people.
“When you isolate yourself,
you’re ultimately reducing the
amount of resources you have to
support you,” says Bosomworth.
“People are very social. When a social
person begins to isolate themselves
they’re taking away, perhaps,
some of their coping tools. Such as
going out, laughing with friends,
or doing something of interest to
them. Skiing, bowling, that kind of
stuff. They could start taking away
the things that bring them pleasure
or peace, or they could be reducing
their coping tools, and once they
start reducing those coping tools,
then you’re not as effectively dealing
with… you’re not giving yourself
the good feelings that you used
to get.”
For Carroll, things got worse.
Ten months being told her first
surgery was the only one she needed,
a rod broke in her back. A very
rare circumstance. Her doctors at
the time were unsure of their next
move. As a precaution, Carroll had
a second surgery in November of
2015 to remove all hardware in
her back. She also went through
bone grafts, had two of her ribs
removed, and she received bones
donated from donors to help rebuild
her back.
This was supposed to be a final
solution. That wasn’t the case.
“In August, I learned that that
surgery unfortunately failed as
well.” she says. “The bone graph
isn’t holding up and my spine is
curving again.”
Currently, Carroll is looking
into a potential third surgery. She
was actually booked to meet with
neurosurgeon Dr. Mohammed
Shamji to help fix her spine. However,
that meeting ended before it
began.
Dr. Shamji was charged with
killing his wife in December of
2016. Carroll is still waiting to see
another doctor.
Carroll has taken her story to social
media outlets. It’s been over a
year. Ever since then young women
from all around the world who also
have scoliosis have gotten into contact
with her.
Carroll admits she was nervous at
first, hoping not to give the wrong
advice. But as time progressed she
felt more comfortable talking to the
women who contacted her.
“They started to DM (direct message)
me though Instagram and Facebook
asking me questions, saying
they were going through the same
process,” she says. “They either
had a failed surgery or their first
surgery, and they just had so many
questions for me. It just felt really
good trying to help them out and
explain to them that if you do take
care of your body and do this right
this can be a life changing thing.”
Bosomworth believes that this is
a really positive thing for all these
girls, including Carroll.
“By increasing her network of
people though social media… that’s
reaching out to other people,” says
Bosomworth. “And by sharing her
story, she’s also letting other people
know that ‘hey, you’re not alone in
It was so
overwhelming
for me that I
had a hard time
going to school,
really connecting
with people,
because I felt like
I was different.
this’. So now they have a place to
belong.”
“I felt happy,” says Carroll. “Because
I was always so ashamed of
the fact that I had scoliosis and that
I had gone through this. I had no
one to talk to. It was very foreign to
me. So when all these girls started
to come to me it was cool to kind
of connect with a community that’s
going through the same thing
you’re going through. I’ve never
had that before, so that was a really
comforting feeling.”
There is more good news. According
to Dr. Antony, scoliosis will
not curve one’s spine forever.
“The one thing to note about
scoliosis, idiopathic scoliosis, is
that it stops the progression of the
disease as you reach maturity,”
Antony says.
Carroll, who turns 19 in April,
wants to let others know just because
her surgeries didn’t work out
they shouldn’t be discouraged. She
still regards a full spinal fusion to
be a life-changing surgery and can
be very beneficial for those who
need it.
“Just because this happened
doesn’t mean it will happen to you,”
she says.
“Bad things happen in life, that’s
a part of life. You just got to live
with it, and move on.”
Photograph provided by Melissa Carroll
An X-ray of Melissa Carroll
once the rods were removed
from her spine.