Zoe Howard
Staff Writer
Costa students started a scoliosis support group after they underwent scoliosis surgeries and wanted to help others in the same situation.
Mira Costa juniors Remi Pappas, Courtney Canales, senior Molly Ghiselli and Marymount High School junior Kiki Schumacher all recovered from scoliosis surgeries and now run a scoliosis support group called More Support. The organization gives advice, support and comfort to girls that are going through this process.
“After my surgery I didn’t have anyone to ask questions to or relate to that had the surgery, so I felt pretty alone and clueless when things happened,” Canales said.
More Support first came together when Ghiselli, Canales and Schumacher visited Pappas in the hospital, who was in eighth grade at the time of her surgery. While there, they talked about creating the support group. They launched both the group and the website the following year.
“I was the last one to get surgery out of all four of us,” Pappas said. “When [Ghiselli, Canales, and Schumacher] got the surgery, they didn’t get the support that I got [from them] and so we realized if we were able to do this for other people and let them hear our stories, they will feel a lot better about themselves.”
Each member of More Support wrote about their stories after finding out they had scoliosis to the day of the surgery and described each day of being in the hospital before and after the procedure on their website. They relate to the patients through a blog where they post about life after the surgery, events they went to, the people they visited and recommendations such as products girls can use after the surgery.
“Even if we can’t meet with scoliosis patients in person, they are still able to view our website and gain support and knowledge.” Ghiselli said. “Also, our blog section where we post updates on our life post-surgery has been really helpful for others.”
More Support drove to different parts of southern California including Oceanside and the valley to personally visit patients in order to give advice about the surgery or recovery process. More Support sends emails to approximately 20 girls to check in with them and delivers care packages to the patients consisting of magazines, bracelets and cards to provide support.
“We hope to reach out to as many people as possible,” Pappas said.
More Support has spoken at numerous events, including the 11th Annual Children’s Miracle Network and Children’s Orthopedic Center Leadership Council Meeting to share their stories on scoliosis. They have also given advice during other events with Children’s Hospital Los Angeles.
“We have a dream of becoming a non-profit organization, if that’s possible,” Pappas said. “We think it would be cool if we were a non-profit organization for research of scoliosis but that’s a long term goal.”
Leave a Reply