Rebecca Ivans

At the beginning of summer in 2013, Becca was diagnosed with scoliosis, which is curvature of the spine. We would not have known about it if not for an X-ray of Becca's lungs during a bad bout of bronchitis. When they came to show us an X-ray of Becca's lungs, they said the good news is that Becca's lungs are clear. The bad news is, look at her spine. At that time, she had a 42 degree curve in her upper back. So, we went to see Dr. John Smith at Primary Children's Hospital in Salt Lake City. He prescribed a brace that Becca wore diligently for 18 hours a day all through 5th and 6th grades. The goal was to keep the curve from going past 50 degrees because it is well known that once a curve has passed 50 degrees, it will just keep getting worse, until eventually, the patient cannot even stand up straight. At first it seemed that the brace was working to control and even to reduce Becca's curvature and we were hopeful that she could avoid surgery.  But at about the end of 6th grade, the brace stopped working and Becca's curve got much worse quickly. The curve is currently at 65 degrees. So, Becca will have surgery to correct the curve and to rotate her ribs back where they belong. The surgery is scheduled for June 2nd, 2016. Becca is excited to be done with the surgery so that she no longer needs to wear the brace....and as an added bonus, she will gain a couple of inches in height :-). We set up this site to keep all of her family and friends updated on her progress after the surgery.