Girl waiting for scoliosis surgery in so much pain she can't sit in wheelchair

07 March 2024 , 11:10

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Kylie Ann Stewart waiting more than five years for urgent scoliosis surgery

A schoolgirl who has waited five years for scoliosis surgery is in so much pain she can no longer sit in her wheelchair.

Kylie Ann Stewart is one of 327 children across the country in need of surgery for scoliosis, a disease which causes the spine to twist and curve to the side. Now 10, she was five when doctors said she needed surgery within a year and the curvature is now putting pressure on her lungs.

Kylie’s mum Catherine yesterday told the Irish Mirror that her daughter’s spine is so curved that she cannot sit in the wheelchair because of the friction it causes against her back – so she lies on the floor to help her pain. She said: “Kylie gets from room to room at home by bum shuffling. The friction against her back is so sore. She lies on the floor and then bum shuffles between the rooms.

When Kylie Ann was aged two, we knew that the bone was protruding in her back. In 2018, when she was five, we were told that she needed surgery and that it needed to happen within the year. That was five years ago. A new development is that she now has reduced lung capacity. We are hoping for surgery but we are just not hopeful.”

Kylie Ann Stewart is struggling to sit in her wheelchair (Irish Mirror)

Kylie has a curvature of 138 degrees in her spine and doctors fear that it could become inoperable if she doesn’t get surgery soon. According to the surgeon, Catherine said, they would not want her spine to move another 10 degrees. He said because the curve has become so big, they will have to do the surgery in "two halves." Delays to scoliosis surgery emerged in 2022 when Temple Street Children’s Hospital cancelled several life-changing spine operations for kids.

Baby boy has spent his life in hospital as doctors are 'scared' to discharge him

Campaigners at the Scoliosis Advocacy Network branded the controversial move to axe the ops as “shocking”. Catherine said: “We were delighted when we got our date for August 2022 but it was short-lived, it was cancelled. At that stage, we were told it was due to not having enough ICU nurses, shortage of beds just the same story all the time. We were given a new date for October 2022 and the same thing happened again.”

Pearse Daniel Doherty, Irish Sinn Féin politician, spoke of Kylie Ann’s ordeal in the Dail last Wednesday, a few days after her parents travelled to Dublin to highlight her ordeal. He said the state had failed her and "we" cannot contemplate what that must be like – "to endure this as a child and as a parent."

He added: “Seven years ago, Minister Simon Harris committed that no child, by the end of 2017, would be waiting longer than four months for scoliosis-related surgery. That promise – made to Kylie Ann and so many children – was broken. There are more than 70 children still waiting more than four months for this surgery – with many, like Kylie Ann, waiting for years."

Sean Murphy