In the United States, 2% to 5% of children develop scoliosis, where the spine curves to make a “C” or “S” shape rather than grow in a straight line.

Shriners has award-winning, internationally recognized physicians who treat more than 10,000 children — One of them is 10-year-old Allie Young from Buffalo, New York.

“I was just excited to come here. I like coming here,” said Allie Young, a Shriner’s patient.

It’s not every day that you hear a child look forward to seeing the doctor.

At just two years old, Allie Young had to be treated for a severe case of infantile scoliosis where her curve was about 100 degrees — A frightening diagnosis for both Allie and her family, but with treatment from Shriners, she has a positive long-term outcome.

“Wondering and worrying about what would come next,” said Megan Young, Allie’s mom. “We had a bad experience with a previous doctor, and like I said, once we came here, there was no turning back.”

Allie’s currently being treated with “growing rods” that were placed a few years ago.

She comes back every four months, where doctors magnetically make them longer to keep up with her growth.

“It is scary in the beginning, but once you start going through the process, but once you see how good everything has adapted over the years, you know, clinically and everything, it’s just not as scary,” said Jon Young, Allie’s dad.

In the player above, you can see the difference between X-rays of Allie’s spine currently compared to how they looked 89 months ago.

Dr. Josh Pahys, chief of staff at Shriners Children’s Erie, told reporter Jade Leah Burns that controlling her condition this way is a unique and relatively new technique.

“We used to have to do small surgeries on them every six months, but the rods that she has in now allow us to do these little lengthening procedures every four months in the office, but they’re actually quite expensive, they’re over $35,000 for the instrumentation, so the Shriners been tremendous at supporting this initiative,” said Dr. Pahys.

Before the growing rods, Allie went through other options of treatment for her medical plan.

She started in casts every two months and braces in the summer.

Then she went through two months of halo traction in Philadelphia — it’s a device held in place on a child’s skull using several pins through a pulley system attached to a bed.

“It was always very important to us to make sure that she enjoyed childhood, to make sure she was out there doing normal things, and she knows her limits, and if something starts to hurt or she’s not feeling comfortable, she knows to take a step back,” said Megan Young.

Thanks to Dr. Pahys, Allie said she wants to become a scoliosis specialist so she can help others the way he has helped her.

“It’s fun when I come here, I like it. I usually always make a picture for Dr. P.,” said Allie. “He used to and still does always call me blue eyes.”

“It’s one of the things that I’m very lucky to be able to do here at Shriners is to kind of watch the kids as they grow up and see them, and they just become a part of the family. It’s been a lot of fun taking care of Allie and being a part of her family; she’s definitely become part of ours,” said Dr. Pahys.

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