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Caitlin's Scoliosis Journey

  • Treatment is working well!

      12 February 2019
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    Caitlin has just returned with two other kiwi friends from the Scoliosis Care Centre in California. Yes we've just been back again! 6 months. 3 trips. We are over the moon with her results so far, her largest curve at 60 degrees is now just 36! Her bottom curve is now just 34 degrees! Yes nearly half its size in just six months. Six hard, expensive, draining months. But worth every single cent. Worth every single tear and every single drop of sweat. Caitlin is now officially out of surgery range 🎉🎉🎉 something that seemed completely impossible just 6 months ago!!

    We are just so grateful to you all for every donation, every warm wish, every fundraising event and we are so happy, so relieved we found this amazing treatment.

    Everyone tells you this isn't possible without surgery. Well it most certainly is!!!♥️♥️

    So what now? We keep going with treatment. We return to the clinic every three months. The first, most important window of about two years is where we will see the most improvement. If we can keep tracking with these kinds of results we have hope to get her curve into the teens or early 20's before she hits puberty and the big growth spurts really start to hit. This will give her the best shot to avoid surgery long term.

    This is certainly a marathon not a sprint of a journey. So we continue to take each stage and assess as we go. But we are over the moon to get these kinds of results so quickly and hope that with lots of hard work we'll continue to see great results.

    With three monthly visits to California, we continue to need to fundraise to help us raise funds. If you have any ideas, any events we could partake any business contacts that may help with donations to auction or media contacts to share our story with, then please reach out and let us know. Any help at all is genuinely appreciated. We couldn't have done this without you all so far, and we just wanted to thank you from the bottom of our hearts. You have help changed the course of Caitlin's life and it means the world to us all ♥️♥️♥️♥️

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  • Update on treatment

      22 August 2018
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    Hi Everyone,

    We've been back from California and settling into a new family routine, trying to figure out the best way to incorporate Caitlin's therapy around our daily commitments. At first therapy was taking two hours each morning and again in the evening, but we've streamlined it into an hour each morning and 1.5 hours each evening.

    Our trip to California was 22 days, 15 of those days Caitlin spent in absolute agony. The therapy includes core exercises to increase her core strength to hold a straight spine in place, stretching of the spinal cord nerves, a traction chair that works into the ligaments that hold the curve in place to lengthen them out and de-rotate her rotated ribs to allow the spine to straighten and then weights that are held in place while balancing to strengthen the muscles around the spine. In addition, a brace that incorporates these elements is worn for 23 hours a day.

    Her MRI when we arrived in California showed her top thoracic curve at almost 60 and her lower lumbar curve at 48 degrees. By the end of the three weeks,

    her curve was down to 22 and 13 in the brace. Holding the curve at such low degrees indicates this treatment will be successful at correcting her curve. However, we'll have more indications on that when we return to the clinic at the end of October.

    We are fundraising now for our next trip, where her curve will be assessed again and adjustments made to her routine and equipment as needed to ensure it continues to reduce.

    In addition to all your amazing and generous donations, we've received direct donations and offers for fundraising too. Caitlin's school have just completed a community fundraising event and we have another coming up at Columbus Coffee Cafe in Mitre 10 in Pukekohe on Friday 21st September as well.

    Please keep us in mind if you know of any people or businesses who may wish to contribute prizes or products for us to raffle or auction off. We continue to auction off donated items and packages on trademe to assist with fundraising as well.

    Once again, we'd just like to thank you all for your support and we wanted to update you on how things are going. We look forward to updating you after our next clinic trip with more positive results!

    Love and Blessings,

    The McMurtry Family xxx

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  • Our first week of treatment in California!

      22 July 2018

    So we've been in California for a week. Thanks for all the messages checking in on how we are going. I've wanted to update all of you who so generously got us here, but I just haven't known exactly what to say. I've had many hard moments as a Mother, but this last week has been absolutely heart wrenching and yet somehow incredibly inspiring. Caitlin's experienced absolutely the most intense pain she has ever had to endure and while she cried until her face was almost raw, her amazing never say die attitude and determination to meet her goals has been totally inspiring. She is stronger than I ever gave her credit for and I can honestly say she is my hero <3 I wish I could share images but the equipment being used is in the process of being patented. Our stay at the Ronald McDonald House has really provided Caitlin with fun and distraction during times in between treatment. I've mastered driving on the right side of the road (I mean wrong!) and the warmth and sunshine have been a lovely bonus. I look forward to sharing our results at the end of our three weeks here. If Caitlin keeps working this hard, they are sure to be amazing xxx

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  • We are off to our first clinic in LA!!

      7 July 2018

    We've recently had a scare with Caitlin's health. All of a sudden one day she couldn't walk properly, her legs kept shaking and were very painful. We were in and out of hospital trying to understand what was causing it and doctors couldn't explain it. We think perhaps some nerves had been compressed and after a few days rest her symptoms improved, while they haven't gone completely she has been able to run around normally again this last week.

    However, this scare was enough to make us realise that treatment needs to get under way sooner rather than later to avoid further damage and possible problems that may not be able to be reversed.

    Thanks to the generosity of everyone who has donated, fundraised on our behalf or donated items for auctions to raise funds and some generous direct donations, we have been able to get the amount together needed for our first trip! And we are booked to leave this Friday evening and start our clinic on Monday!

    We will be updating Caitlin's progress at clinic while we are away, we are sure you'll all be keen to hear how she progresses there and know your generosity is seeing her get the help she needs!

    This however is just the beginning of this journey. Our fundraising must continue to help us get back to clinic every three months. Please keep sharing our story and working within your own networks to find ways to fundraise with fun!

    Thank you again from the bottom of our hearts, Ben and I are blown away with every single contribution and we are so grateful we are able to Caitlin the help she needs.

    Love and blessings from our whole family to yours xxxx

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    • 23/07/2018 by Helen

      You go Caitlin! ! I know this is such a difficult time but it sounds like you are all growing in the most amazing ways through this journey. You are in our prayers. God bless, the Alexander family xoxo