In the United States, a child in Oksana s condition would never be ostracized from society, nor removed from public school, Harrison said. And never in the United States would a child with scoliosis, no matter how severe, be led to believe that there could be no future. I knew that I had to help her. If not in Russia, I knew there was help available in America. Oksana had refused surgery in Russia in which doctors insert heavy metal rods into the spine and later remove them.
Many children experience worse curvature after the rods are removed than before.
For Oksana, the risk was too great. Let nature twist my back, she said, not the doctors. Harrison explained that in the United States, surgeons use lightweight titanium rather than heavy metal. Eighty percent of patients who receive the surgery experience success. Oksana knew she wanted the American surgery, so Harrison began coordinating arrangements.