When I was diagnosed with Scoliosis at age12, it was a disease I'd never heard a thing about. I was
hungry for information about this mysterious disease and eagerly sought out my mother's medical books
and encyclopeadias, hoping to better understand exactly what this thing was that I supposedly had.

    I will never forget the first images I came across .. they were in one of those huge medical books -
up until the moment I laid eyes on those images, I still had hope. I still had the optimism of a child who
believes she is young and invincible, that "nothing bad will ever happen to me". But, oh I remember, my
eyes stared at those images of a girl's back..there was an image of a girl in the early stage of development
when the deformity wasn't too bad. Then there was the image of her as an adult, twisted, hunch backed!
The image of what I would look like! I was utterly devastated!!

    I was scheduled for surgery, yes, but up until this moment I had no idea what Scoliosis looked like.
How ugly it was. No one had told me this. I broke down crying and wanted to kill myself, right then and
there. That image of a deformed young woman stuck in my mind for years, until a few years ago when
it was staring right back at me every time I looked in the mirror. If you read my story you will see.. the
rods broke, as I hit my early twenties, and slowly but surely I became even more crooked than the
woman in that horrible picture that haunted me for so long. The thought that I had actually become that
deformed woman in mom's medical book was almost enough to push me over the edge for good.

    Anyway before we get on to the pictures, I want to say that despite everything I just said (!), I have
gotten 'over it'. Well mostly. As my story tells, I had a miraculous surgery in '97 and am now a heck of
alot straighter and happier. I wear tshirts in public now, own my own home, have a dog and 2 cats, have
my Honours Thesis for my B.A.H, drive a cool truck, held down real jobs, and have a man who
loves me. And most of all, best of all, that woman in the mirror I see every day? Well I'm becoming very
fond of her and now think she's beautiful just the way she is! Go figure!! So now without further ado, let's
have a look at some of the Scoliosis pics I have found on the web: