Bent But Not Broken: One Family's Scoliosis Journey

For the Butters family, the punch that knocked the wind out of their lungs was a diagnosis of severe idiopathic scoliosis for their twelve-year-old daughter, Avery. The only viable treatment option was spinal fusion surgery.

It was a terrifying prospect to stare down, and one that even after several months of appointments, research, and internet searches did not yield much information about what they could expect. Four months after they knew that surgery was in Avery’s future, and frustrated with the lack of information on what the family would actually experience, Avery’s mother, Jodi, started a family blog.

It was there that Avery, Jodi, and Andrew would share their thoughts and experiences about the journey in real time—or as close to real time as they could get. Jodi was determined that if there were other families searching for this information, they would be able to provide it.

When it was all said and done and the blog came to its rightful conclusion, the writer in Andrew couldn’t leave it alone. If the blog was so successful at spreading the message, then surely there were other ways to help spread the word. Surely there were experiences they lived through that taught them lessons that applied beyond Avery’s scoliosis. Surely there was a bigger story to tell.

Bent But Not Broken is a heartfelt journey of a girl and her family as they navigate the healthcare system from diagnosis to surgery and beyond. Follow them as they use their own words in blog posts and through an emotional and gripping narrative that puts you by their side through all the ups and downs, challenges and successes, of an experience that changed their lives and taught them that compassion and love builds strong communities, even stronger families, and that true strength comes from the most unlikely sources.