Kahler Newsham

In August of 2013 my daughter Kahler had scoliosis surgery. It was a personal challenge and she overcame it with flying colors. She was going into her Junior year at high school, which is an important year since we were looking at many colleges, when it was recommended to have the surgery. The surgery was a complete success, but Kahler spent a week recovering in the hospital. In addition, she had to sit out the fall season for the sport she is most passionate about, which is sailing. However, by the spring she was full force back on the water doing what she loves best. She is currently the co-captain of her sailing team and has never looked back from the surgery. Kahler plans to go to college next year majoring in chemical engineering. She would like to develop at tool that could easily estimate the degree of a person's spinal curve when placed on a bent back when she was at HSS. She would make this device out of inexpensive plastic so that it could be accessible to all schools. This way, fewer kids' scoliosis would go unnoticed like hers did, and a "slight curve" would now be assigned a numerical degree. This device could lead to more accurate testing, faster treatment, and healthier kids, giving them the benefit of early detection that she never had. And the song that describes her best: "I am unwritten, can't read my mind, I'm undefined, I'm just just beginning, the pen's in my hand, ending unplanned." And no better place for her to have the surgery than HSS.