Teenage girl wears 'Made in Wales, Modified in Germany' t-shirt after life-changing operation to straighten her spine

Emiah Ellis was previously diagnosed with scoliosis, which causes the spine to twist and curve to the side

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Emiah Ellis is now recovering at home in the UK after the surgery

A teenage girl who underwent a life-changing operation thanks to generous strangers is proudly showing off the outcome.

Emiah Ellis, 14, wore a t-shirt reading 'Made in Wales, Modified in Germany' after the successful procedure to straighten her spine.

The teen was previously diagnosed with scoliosis, which causes the spine to twist and curve to the side, and usually starts in children aged 10-15.

She was unable to undergo the costly operation in Germany after a fundraising effort collected £30,000.

Surgeons had to deflate her lung before inserting six screws into her spine and tugging on a thread which pulled it in straight, her mum told WalesOnline.



Emiah, 14, shows off her t-shirt with Dr Per Trobisch 

Emiah, of Brynna, South Wales, is now recovering at home after returning from Germany.

Her mum Menna Garland-Ellis said the problem started when Emiah, who has always been very sporty, started getting hurt after practice on a regular basis.

She said: “Two years ago she was in a swimming squad and into athletics, doing a lot of training, and every time she was coming home, she was complaining about a bad shoulder thinking she’d pulled a muscle.

“I took her to a physio, thinking you can’t pull a muscle every time, there must be something else going on. The physio said if you look, her shoulders aren’t in alignment and she had to be referred to hospital.

“They told us she had scoliosis of the spine.”

Emiah was then faced with a choice – have an operation that could potentially restrict her movement or do nothing and stay in pain.

She opted for vertebral body tethering (VBT), also known as fusionless surgery, which preserves flexibilty and growth by not stiffening the spine.

The operation at the Eifelklinik clinic in Simmerath last month used nuts and bolts instead of rods.

To cover the cost, the family raised £30,000, with donations coming from relatives, friends and the community.

Menna said: “We were going down the route of having an operation where they put rods in your back but her curve is very low down, so they said it could affect her movement."

She said of the operation in Germany: “Instead of using rods, they don’t operate from the back, they operate from the sides and made two slits on her side, deflated her lung and inserted six screws placed on her spine and pull a thread through the nuts and bolts and when they pull it tighter, it pulls the spine in straight.

“But what that means is she can still bend, she’s still got her flexibilty.”

Now Emiah is back at home and has stunned the doctors with her impressive recovery.

Her mum said: “She was really positive. They kept commenting how brave and determined she was. She was walking up the stairs on the third day after her operation. They said they’ve never had somebody do so much so quick.

“She can’t do anything now while she’s healing and we have to wait for the scars to heal before she can go back to swimming. But she should be able to continue. It’s going to take a while to build up to the same levels she was at before, but she’s done really well.

“We had to raise a lot of money and this is a great help. It’s early days, but the operation will hopefully mean Emiah will keep her flexibility and live a normal everyday life.”


Source : Mirror UK , 25th Sep 2017