Diagnosed with Scoliosis at a young age of 12, Bethany reflects on how she managed to navigate and adapt to this reality. She takes us on a journey of someone who was a young carer for her sibling, living with a health condition whilst at school, and now working in public health impacting communities.

Quotes from Bethany’s story:

“I grew up as a ‘secondary’ unpaid carer to my older, disabled sister, Abigail, who was born with Hydrocephalus (fluid on the brain), which resulted in an acquired brain injury – ‘organic personality disorder’ which presents similarly but not exactly like Autism.”

“Scoliosis, simply put, is a ‘sideways’ curvature of the spine. It can occur at any age, mine occurred during adolescence and was idiopathic (AIS). Most Scoliosis doesn’t require surgery but around 10% of Scoliosis patients do. I had mine at 14 years old. I had a 70 degree C-curve of my spine.” 

Around 2-3% of adolescents develop scoliosis, with the majority of cases appearing between 11 and 14 years of age.

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What is SEP?Silent Elephant Project (SEP) gives marginalised life limiting and long-term health conditions a platform, through creative and interactive projects. ‘An elephant in the room’ is an English-language metaphorical idiom for an obvious problem no one wants to discuss, or a condition no one wants challenge. This phrase has coined the main objective of the SEP. For more info - https://www.freshrb.com/health-podcast-uk