Chloe Finch (2023), an undergraduate journalism student at the University of Northampton, wrote about her experience of a spinal fusion operation at the age of 15. 

Chloe’s piece was titled ‘I had surgery to fix my ‘S’ shape spine – the scary part came next‘ and discusses her scoliosis, and coming to terms with the long term impact, including scarring. She writes, “with most cases diagnosed in teenage girls, body confidence is a huge factor in the care of patients. A sense of self is still to be discovered in these years and it’s a time when your body changes and grows the most, so these questions made me feel different – something any introverted teenage girl didn’t want.”

Chloe was assisted by her mentor Senior Fellow James Besanvalle, Assistant Opinion and First-Person Editor at Metro UK.