Kayra's Vertebral Body Tethering Surgery
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My daughter, Kayra, has been diagnosed with scoliosis last year. The curve was initially measured as 39 degrees. We have started treatment in the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne immediately. As the first treatment strategy, the doctors recommended to have a body brace for her to wear as close to 24 hours/day as possible. Brace apparently is not a treatment strategy but a preventative one, for an attempt to try to make sure the curve doesn’t bend any further.
Unfortunately, our follow up check-up indicated that the curve was actually 49 degrees and now progressed to 52 degrees, i.e. bracing hasn’t helped. We were advised that anything greater than 50 degrees will most likely require an operation to correct it. The common type is to fuse the bones during early adulthood but this will restrict her movements for the rest of her life. Exploring all other treatment options, we have found a new treatment approach called “Vertebral Body Tethering (VBT)” which is a new cutting edge fusion-less technique used by only a handful of skilled surgeons across the world to treat scoliosis. It requires titanium bone screws to be anchored to the front of each vertebral bone within the curved area, and a flexible cord (the tether) to be attached to each screw and tensioned to achieve the desired degree of spine straightening. This technique is less invasive, however, it is time-sensitive. It can only be done to those patients who haven’t completed their growth as this method takes advantage of future growth in which the tethered side of the spine grows less than the non-tethered side.
Kayra is nearly about to complete her growth cycle according to her x-rays. Hence the clock is ticking for us if we have a chance to give her a better life for the future. As a parent, we would like to try every avenue as she will benefit from this surgery if operated as soon as possible.
We have been in touch with one of the pioneer surgeons in Turkey, Dr. Ahmet Alanay, who has been recognised with his expertise in these type of operations worldwide. Dr Alanay has kindly offered us a reduced fee, however, the material used in the operation is still quite costly apparently. The operation requires approximately $50K AUD for us to proceed. We hope you can all help us collectively to provide a better future for our daughter. This will mean a lot to us! Thank you very much for your support.
Unfortunately, our follow up check-up indicated that the curve was actually 49 degrees and now progressed to 52 degrees, i.e. bracing hasn’t helped. We were advised that anything greater than 50 degrees will most likely require an operation to correct it. The common type is to fuse the bones during early adulthood but this will restrict her movements for the rest of her life. Exploring all other treatment options, we have found a new treatment approach called “Vertebral Body Tethering (VBT)” which is a new cutting edge fusion-less technique used by only a handful of skilled surgeons across the world to treat scoliosis. It requires titanium bone screws to be anchored to the front of each vertebral bone within the curved area, and a flexible cord (the tether) to be attached to each screw and tensioned to achieve the desired degree of spine straightening. This technique is less invasive, however, it is time-sensitive. It can only be done to those patients who haven’t completed their growth as this method takes advantage of future growth in which the tethered side of the spine grows less than the non-tethered side.
Kayra is nearly about to complete her growth cycle according to her x-rays. Hence the clock is ticking for us if we have a chance to give her a better life for the future. As a parent, we would like to try every avenue as she will benefit from this surgery if operated as soon as possible.
We have been in touch with one of the pioneer surgeons in Turkey, Dr. Ahmet Alanay, who has been recognised with his expertise in these type of operations worldwide. Dr Alanay has kindly offered us a reduced fee, however, the material used in the operation is still quite costly apparently. The operation requires approximately $50K AUD for us to proceed. We hope you can all help us collectively to provide a better future for our daughter. This will mean a lot to us! Thank you very much for your support.
Fundraising team (2)
Ilknur Guclu
Organizer
Karingal VIC
Sermin Tanyeri
Team member
