BUCKEYE, AZ (AZFamily) — Looking at Piper Bellingrodt’s smiling face, you would never suspect the painful abnormalities in her body.
“She hid it really well,” said her mother, Jennifer Bellingrodt.
Piper suffered from severe scoliosis with two curvatures of the spine, one of which was almost 90 degrees.
“Because it was curved and twisted, it was pressing on her organs,” her mother said.
The active 14-year-old is a freshman at Verrado High School. She was scheduled to undergo surgery with a doctor in New Jersey in June.
After flying to the east coast, they learned that the doctor would no longer operate on them.
“The day before the surgery, my husband saw an email that had been sent on Friday. There was no call. I was just pacing and crying,” Jennifer said.
Disappointed, the family flew back to Arizona and then back to New York in July after finding another surgeon, Dr. Baron Lonner. During the operation, there was a major scare when her spine was moved.
“They were about to go in and move her, and suddenly her motor skills disappeared. That would have been it. She would have been paralyzed,” Jennifer said.
Fortunately, the medical team reacted quickly.
“They increased her blood pressure and pumped blood and oxygen to her nerves. By God’s grace, everything started working again,” she said.
Five days later, the doctor performed a second successful operation. The before and after x-rays are incredible.
Piper’s mother thought that after a week of rest, they could take a commercial flight back to Arizona. But even though Piper is up and walking, she is unable to survive a five-hour flight standing upright. She needs to be able to lie down.
“If someone has a plane they need to move and they want a huge tax credit for helping someone with medical problems, we can send photos. The doctor will send a letter. Whatever it takes to get them back,” her mother said.
Whatever it takes to get her back to high school and start throwing discus again without the back pain she’s used to.
If you know a pilot who could help, please email Angie Koehle at [email protected]
Have you discovered a spelling or grammatical error in our story? Click here to report it.
Do you have a photo or video of a recent news story? Send it here with a short description.
All rights reserved.
