Ellie Orchard a 17-year-old beautiful young lady, who is in her senior year, is facing a serious back surgery once again. Around the age of ten, Ellie was unfortunately diagnosed with a severe form of scoliosis.  Her first surgery planned at the young age of 13, was going to be a total fuse of her back. However, mid-operation the doctor decided that since her spine was flexible, he would fuse only 2⁄3 of her back and would later have her wear a brace during the day.  The brace Ellie had to wear, you can imagine, felt like- a walking coffin-restricting most movement and the availability of breathing normally.  Soon after, Ellie began to struggle with anxiety and was not only uncomfortable but still in a lot of pain. This later lead to bad news that the surgery didn’t take as the doctors had hoped, so it was determined Ellie needed a second back surgery again.  This time, her surgery was a total back fusion, which they cut her completely open removing all rods and screws and fused down to leaving the last 2 vertebras in her lower back.  Recovery from these surgeries is long and hard, not only on Ellie but her family as well.  She soldiers on with grace and determination, yet can’t escape the feeling of anxiety, neck and back aches as she is healing from this 2nd surgery.  Ellie and her family continue to think it will get better with time, but time shows that it only continues to get worse until 3 months ago when the pain was so severe that doctors suggest going back in for a third surgery. Her doctor, stated in all these years, that he has never had to perform three surgeries for any of his patients to fix the problem and this is pretty much unheard of. Unfortunately, on January 13th, Ellie will be having her third surgery and facing the difficulties of a long and hard recovery. Not only will this be hard physically and emotionally, but other sacrifices will need to be made. Such as this being her senior year, Ellie won’t be able to join her class in school and will have to take online classes. She will miss out on experiences that most seniors get to look forward too. However, as Ellie, prepares to undergo another procedure, she tackles the problem with grace and sweetness, always with a smile on her face and a determination to face whatever is around the next corner.  Through this entire journey of surgery after surgery, Ellie has never let these three major setbacks stop her from working toward her goals of getting an associate in technical drafting and later a bachelor’s in engineering.  She is and always will be a true embodiment of grace, strength while continuing to be an inspiration to us all. Please consider helping Ellie and her family with not only the expensive medical costs that they face but also helping towards being able to accomplish her goals.