Connecticut Children's Blog

When she was 12 years old, Lindsay Fritz wrote a letter to her future self. “Don’t worry, you got this,” she wrote. “You are bent, not broken.” The year before, a routine physical had revealed a curve in her spine, and she’d been referred to Connecticut Children’s for X-rays. The diagnosis: adolescent idiopathic scoliosis. On […]

Depending on which day you ask her, 6-year-old Lily will tell you that she wants to be a ballerina or a firefighter when she grows up. But those professions require standing up straight, and until two years ago, Lily couldn’t. She was born with a spine so severely curved to the side that it looked […]

It was a pneumonia diagnosis that revealed a 30-degree curve in young Sabella’s spine at the age of 6. She was referred to Connecticut Children’s Orthopedics division where she was followed closely by Jeff Thomson, MD, for years before she underwent spinal fusion surgery to correct her debilitating scoliosis. Now a teenager, Sabella’s love for […]

Joshua was born in 2006 with spina bifida, which led him to develop severe scoliosis by the time he was three. His previous providers had tried bracing, but he was in and out of surgery for other conditions so often that he could not wear the brace consistently. In 2009, he was recommended as Connecticut […]

Connor loves baseball. And he’s really good at it—pitcher and shortstop are his favorite positions. But last year, when he was 10, he was experiencing problems with his knee that threatened to take him out of the game. He had significant pain all the time, and his knee would periodically lock up. His mother took […]