Kayleigh's Story

In January of 2024, I was at a routine chiropractic visit when my doctor noticed something was off with my spine.

He sent me to Ruby Memorial Hospital in Morgantown for an appointment with Dr. Andrew Parsons. When I got my X-rays back it showed my spine around a 33 degree curve. It was past the point of bracing and I was already 14 so we just scheduled an appointment for a year out since he didn’t think it would progress any further.

In August, my family and I were at Kings Island and my mom was walking behind me when she noticed how crooked my back was. We called Morgantown and got an appointment with Dr. Parsons for another X-ray, this time we found out my spine had worsened to 48 degrees. I had no words as to what I was feeling, it was very scary and we were all so upset. At the same appointment we had to schedule an MRI to see if I had a cancerous tumor pushing my spine because my doctor had never seen something progress so fast. Hearing that was difficult for me to sit with because everything was happening so fast.

He knew it would get to 50 degrees before long, so my surgery was then scheduled for December 17, which was three days after my Cheerleading State Competition. The 6-month recovery period was not only physically hard for me but also mentally. I have always been active in sports and sitting for that long really put me in a rough spot.

I was back to cheer in June for the next season and made the team at tryouts in August of 2025. I was beyond proud of how far I had come because I was working with two coaches outside of cheer practice just to get my tumbling back. I don’t regret getting my surgery at all because everything happens for a reason and I’m no longer in pain every single day.