by Elizabeth Golden
Interview Questions
NSF News Release
DIAGNOSIS, SURGERY, RECOVERY, VICTORY
A Young Girl's Journey Through Scoliosis
At age 13, the last thing Elizabeth Golden wanted was to be singled out. A typical seventh-grader in her school in Philadelphia, Elizabeth's world was filled with best friends who made her laugh, schoolwork, and sports. Then, during a routine check-up, her doctor found two curves in her spine. Elizabeth had scoliosis and was instantly different from her classmates
Scoliosis wasn't completely foreign to Elizabeth. Both her grandmother and her aunt were diagnosed with the same condition when they were teenagers.
"I knew it could run in families," says Elizabeth, "but I never in a million years thought it would happen to me."
Because of her family history, Elizabeth knew that even though the human spine curves, in some cases an unnatural sideways curve can develop. In her own journey through diagnosis, surgery and recovery, Elizabeth learned that scoliosis generally develops in young adults. Girls around the age of puberty, it turns out, are many times more likely than boys to have scoliosis.
Elizabeth kept a memoir throughout her spinal surgery and long recuperative period. Recognizing that not every teenager facing major surgery will have the benefit of the support system she had - including family members who have been through the surgery themselves - Elizabeth turned her memoir into a book to help others.
In When Life Throws You a Curve: One Girl's Triumph over Scoliosis, Elizabeth tells what it was like, including her fears, the pain, and the triumphs. Young people who are having major surgery or are diagnosed with scoliosis, and their families and friends will all benefit from her firsthand account.
Once fearful about whether she would be able to walk without pain, Elizabeth emerged from her experience to become a nationally-ranked squash player and a varsity tennis player. Elizabeth found that surgery and recuperation gave her more than a straighter spine: The scar running down her back is a symbol of an experience that has made her more determined and focused. A self-confident young woman today, Elizabeth recently backpacked forty miles through the Green Mountains and entered her freshman year at Yale in September.
When Life Throws You a Curve: One Girl's Triumph over Scoliosis by Elizabeth Golden is scheduled for release in June 2008. When Life Throws You a Curve: One Girl's Triumph over Scoliosis (ISBN 978-1-58985-102-3), nonfiction, paperback, is published by Five Star Publications, P.O. Box 6698, Chandler AZ 85246-6698, and is distributed through Ingram and Baker & Taylor. To request a review copy and/or to schedule an interview with the author, please contact the publisher. Retail $12.95.
Published by: Five Star Publications
ISBN 978-1-58985-102-3
$12.95
Published June 2008
Paperback / Nonfiction
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