“She was laying flat but one of her shoulder blades was higher than the other, so I took her to get a check-up and the tests came back that she had severe scoliosis. I was hoping that it was something that could be corrected by a brace but after consultations, surgery was recommended,” she said. Ashnique said walking and climbing the staircase to her classes became challenging.

“Most of my classes were upstairs and because of the pain, I would usually stay downstairs at the gazebo and my friends would join me down there because they were just great. I didn’t pass a lot of my subjects, I only got two out of the nine that I sat,” she said. After leaving Wolmer’s,  Ashnique enrolled at Excelsior Community College but the pain remained. She was attending college until March of this year, but due to the intense pain, she had to stop.

Ashnique is expected to do the corrective surgery at KPH free of cost, but the prescription to buy the pins, rods and screws are estimated to be almost $2 million. The physiotherapy and other treatments are not included in that cost.

Dr. Ian Neil (Consultant Orthopaedic and Spinal Surgeon at Contemporary Orthopaedic and Spinal Services) states that surgery is the only recourse to correct her spine and advises that the procedure needs to be done as early as possible to minimize the further curvature of the spine.

Funds needed for her surgery run upwards of 2.5 million dollars.

We are seeking the funds needed to fund the surgery as the surgery would help to have pain free life and help her to achieve her dream in the field of psychiatry.