Post by NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital

Washington State native Solomiya Dezhnyuk developed scoliosis as a baby after a spinal cord infection weakened her left side. As she grew, the curve in her spine worsened, creating a large protruding hump on her upper back that eventually compressed her heart and lungs into a few inches of space. By her senior year of high school, despite multiple surgeries, she noticed it was becoming harder to breathe. Her doctor referred her to Dr. Lawrence Lenke, spine surgeon and co-director of #NYPOchSpine. Dr. Lenke used a technique called halo traction to gradually stretch Solomiya’s spine over six weeks. He then performed a complex procedure called a vertebral column resection, which involved breaking, realigning, and stabilizing her spine during two 10-hour surgeries. Her condition was severe, with a 100-degree scoliosis curve and 170-degree thoracic kyphosis. After surgery, both were significantly corrected to near-normal ranges. “I woke up feeling like I could finally take a deep breath,” Solomiya said. She also recalls how the care team supported her. “The hospital staff became like my family,” she said. On a recent trip to New York, Solomiya, now 28, visited Dr. Lenke to mark the 10-year anniversary of her surgery. Today, she is living an active life — working in education, traveling and sharing her story to encourage others. “My life now feels like a dream,” she said. Drop a 👏 to celebrate Solomiya’s milestone and click to learn more about how #NYPOchSpine is transforming spine care: https://nyphosp.co/4dKk9qr Columbia University Irving Medical Center, Weill Cornell Medicine

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