A 12-year-old girl from Skhidnytsia spent 18 hours under anesthesia to be able to walk like other children.
Hope for a normal life was given to Vikusia by Ukrainian and American doctors who performed two complex surgeries in succession. **The surgeries exceeded the surgeons’ expectations**. When Vikusia was only 6 months old, she was diagnosed with a rare disease called Bethlem myopathy, which leads to severe scoliosis.
Over the years, the child’s condition worsened: the spinal curvature reached 160 degrees. In Lviv, Vika’s mother met orthopedist Maryan Orach, who involved American surgeon Mark Dyrzhka in the treatment. He explains: _“To correct her scoliosis, we needed to remove an entire vertebra… we secured her spine with screws and installed a titanium cage”_.
After the surgeries, the spine was aligned by 85%. Vika’s mother notes: _“The back really changed… we are amazed!”_. A long rehabilitation lies ahead, but now the girl has hope of walking independently.