RACE AGAINST TIME FOR ERIN’S SPINE OP
Pair need to raise £42,000 in just weeks to keep young gymnast’s dreams alive
AGYMNAST from Cardiff who hopes to become an Olympian is trying to raise thousands of pounds so she can have life-changing surgery in Germany.
Erin Morgan-Ring, from the Heath, was diagnosed with scoliosis, a condition where the spine curves and twists.
Now the 14-year-old is heading to the continent to have surgery to correct her spine in a pioneering operation that would mean she could still play sport – but she needs to raise around £42,000.
Erin has always loved sports – and it’s no wonder with her dad being exWelsh rugby star Mark Ring. She started gymnastics when she was just three years old.
But just over a year ago, Erin’s mum Ceri noticed something a bit strange while on holiday.
“I noticed a raised area on the left hand side of her lower back, thinking she’d pulled a muscle from doing handstands and cartwheels all the time,” she said.
“I thought it was a ridge of muscle from her putting her leading leg down. She’s forever upside down.”
When the pair got home, they went to see a doctor.
Mum Ceri said: “She asked her to touch her toes and she said I think you need to go and get an X-ray of your spine. I think Erin has scoliosis.
“I’d never heard of it before and wasn’t sure what it was. So obviously we did.
“She went and stood in front of t h i s machine and Erin, she looked so little, and d the image e popped up p on the screen and of course I could see it.”
Erin ini- tially had just t one curve in n her spine, but t gradually that t got worse. She e now has two o curves in her r spine – one at t 64 degrees and d one at 74 4 degrees – running the length of her spine in an “S” shape.
Ceri was told it would be weeks to see a consultant and decided to go privately.
Erin was told she would need to have an operation, where her spine would be pulled straight with screws and rods holding it in place.
It would mean she would lose all flexibility and she would not be able to sports s do again.
But after r doing some e research, Ceri i found a pio- neering treatment being g offered in n Germany, , w h e r e instead of rods being g placed in her r back, and d therefore e r e s t r i c t i ng g her move- ment, she e would have e nuts and d bolts.
Vertebral l Body Tethering (VBT), also known as fusionless surgery, is offered by Dr Trobisch and his team at the Eifelklinik clinic in Simmerath, and it preserves flexibility and growth by not stiffening the spine.
But the eight to nine hour operation will cost around £42,000.
Now Ceri and Erin are trying to fundraise ahead of the operation in April.
Using the slogan ‘We’ve got your back’, the pair p are running a whole host o of events, including a quiz night at The Deri Inn in Rhiwbina on February 18, a sponsored walk up Pen y Fan by Pets at Home staff, where Ceri w works, on March 4, as well as hosting a black tie event.
But for Ceri, there w was no other option.
She said: “I don’t want any parent to go through what I’ve had to go t through. It’s just h horrific.
“It’s the unknown. Do you leave it or do you do anything?
“The surgeon said I had to do something. The doctor in Germany said we can’t leave this, it’s going to get worse.
“It’s devastating because you’re frightened and then you’ve got to try and explain it to Erin and she’s frightened to death.
“But the thing that she most worries about now is are we going to raise the money in time?”
Erin said: “I have always dreamt of one day being an Olympic gymnast and I felt this dream was being ripped away from me. “When the surgeon said ‘Yes, Erin, you ca can have VBT’ I jumped u up out of my chair and my eyes filled with tears and I gave h him a great b big hug. “I really c cou ldn ’t believe I was going to have t the operation t that would e enable me to c carry on doing all the things I love to do and maybe one day I can c be part of Team T GB. “VBT is not available in this country at the moment on the NHS N and by the time it gets here, it will be too late for me. “With my surgery less than 12 weeks away, there isn’t much time to get the money together. But I feel so very loved and overwhelmed by the love and support some people have shown to me already on my journey and without them, I wouldn’t be in this position today, counting down the days until my surgery and I can be straight again.” To donate, visit the online fundraising page at www.gofundme. com/erins-scoliosisvbt-journey