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Returning to center stage: Jacksonville teen performs at Alhambra a year after spine surgery

June is Scoliosis Awareness Month. Claire Smith is showing the possibilities of recovery from severe scoliosis.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla — Seussical the Musical opened at the Alhambra Theater in Jacksonville. It's their first show at full capacity and all eyes will be on stage but don’t miss Thing Number 2. 

The girl under the costume has gone through spine surgery to be able to perform at her best ability. 

A year ago, 14-year-old Claire Smith’s spine was at a nearly 45-degree angle. She had severe scoliosis.

A year later, she's singing, dancing, and doing acrobatics on stage. She thanks the tether surgery for correcting her scoliosis. 

“I didn’t want anything to be able to hold me back from working on anything, just being the best I could be," Smith said. 

Since she was 10, Smith said she had to hold back, but not by choice. 

“It was a lot of achiness, pain, I couldn’t sit on the floor without a back (rest) for more than 5 minutes," Smith said. 

The Smiths are a military family and moved to Jacksonville a few years ago. It was a move that her mom said bettered her life.

“Some patients have an interest in correcting their scoliosis while trying to maintain normal motion in their spines," Dr. Kevin Neal said. "That is where newer technologies like the tether come in.”

Wolfson Children's Hospital and Nemours Pediatric Orthopedic Surgeon Dr. Kevin Neal is one of the few doctors in hundreds of miles who perform the procedure. 

Instead of a metal rod which is most commonly used to correct scoliosis, Dr. Neal attaches a tether - like a rope - to the spine to partially correct the curve and limit the curve in the spine from growing.

For patients that really have goals where they need to preserve that mobility in their spine, this has really been a gamechanger compared to what we have before," Dr. Neal said. 

He says the surgery has been around for 20 years but is still relatively new as a treatment option.

In a 250 mile radius, we only found three doctors who perform this surgery. The other locations nearby are Gainesville, Florida and Charleston, South Carolina. 

June is Scoliosis Awareness Month. Dr. Neal says it is most commonly seen in otherwise healthy teens. 

Your child would normally be checked for scoliosis at their annual physical. 

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