My first experience ever seeing someone with a brace was then I was in 1st grade, when there was a girl who wore what I now recognize as a Milwaukee brace. Once I asked the girl what it was for and she kicked me. After that I was kind of scared of the girl, and I thought she was weird because I didn't know why she wore the brace. I don't think she's so weird now.

My scoliosis got discovered at a physical when I was ten years old. I had never heard of scoliosis before, and I really didn't want to hear about it. My parents tried talking to me about, but I didn’t really want to hear. We found out I had two 20 degree curves and needed to see a specialist. The closest appointment we could get was five months away.

After waiting five months we went to the hospital and found out my curves had gone from 20 to one of 32 and one of 35. I needed to get a Boston brace, and I was not happy about it.

I knew from the start that I did not want to tell a single soul about my brace, and I cried whenever someone tried to talk about it with me. I lied to everybody about my brace. Even my best friends. When ever someone bumped into me I told some bizarre lie about wearing a bullet-proof vest because my parents worked for the government. At this point I would advise everyone to tell their friends about their scoli, because it will make everything a lot easier. I got really depressed really soon. I felt defective, like something like a plate that had been manufactured wrong, and was useless. I wanted to be normal. Soon I began to get suicidal and I went to therapy to try to get better.

Therapy helped a lot, but I was still feeling depressed because I just wanted to be like everyone else. So one day, after sitting around feeling sorry for myself for three and a half years I decided to take matters into my own hands.

A google search produced SpineKIDS and I thought why not give it a try? So I did, and I can honestly say that SpineKIDS was the best thing that ever happened to me. Way better than therapy. And soon I found myself with feelings I had never had before. I felt amazingly comfortable with myself, brace, spine and everything.

Then after 4 years of wearing a Boston brace I found out that I didn't have to wear it anymore, because I stopped growing. But my spine still has two curves of 38 and 41, and you know what? I like it that way!

You can find Leelee on the SpineKIDS Message Boards.