I am fundraising for our 14-year-old daughter, Star, who was diagnosed a year ago with a very advanced case of Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis. Due to the severity of the curve when it was first diagnosed, the orthopedic surgeon recommended we try her wearing a brace that is made to stabilize the spinal curve for a year to see if the spinal curve will stay at its current measurement of 46 degrees or get worse. Unfortunately, after one year of bracing, it did get worse, and went to 52 degrees. For the surgeon, as well as what our insurance will cover, if the curve goes above 50 degrees they recommend a spinal fusion, which is a major back surgery. Needless to say, both us and our daughter were terrified at even the thought of her having to go through a major back surgery; especially as she is just starting high school and would have been missing two months of her freshman year to heal. Also, she still has some growth left, meaning that the possibility of having future spine issues after the surgery goes up.

After much research, we found that there are alternatives to surgery and that, contrary to what we were told by the orthopedic surgeon, there is a possibility to reverse the curve and therefore avoid major back surgery. Since she does have some growth left, it was a pivotal time and we needed to start with this alternative treatment right away, if we wanted to try to see good results.

She started this alternative treatment at the beginning of July and she will be putting in the hard work of intense physical therapy with daily exercises and regular chiropractic care for the next year. She has also gotten a new brace that OVER-CORRECTS her spinal curve, which she will need to be wearing consistently for about 22 hours per day for the first several months of her treatment. This is going to be a long, hard and painful process, but she is motivated to avoid surgery at this time.

Because this treatment is considered alternative, it is not covered by our insurance. We were lucky that her Grandparents were able to put the full cost on a credit card so that we could get started, but now we have to find a way to pay that credit card off.

This is why we chose to start this fundraiser.

It was a hard decision for us to ask others for financial help, but we are not in a financial position to afford this treatment. But, we were also not comfortable having our 14-year-old daughter undergo such an invasive and scary surgery, without at least trying other alternatives first.

After much prayer by Catrice, we decided to start this fundraiser. During Catrice's prayers, she realized that there are people out there that are in a better financial position than we are, that would be happy to help our daughter; but won't know, unless we put it out there. So we are putting it out there.

We know times are tough for a lot of us now and honestly, anything you can give will help; even if it is just your prayers, well wishes or sharing this fundraiser with others. All of the above will be greatly appreciated.

Thank you so very much in advance,

Catrice and Rik Miles