Straight from the Heart!
A scar running from Shannon Harrison’s shoulder blades down to her posterior is like an artifact from a different body. Before Dr. Daubs, of the University of Utah Scoliosis Clinic, attached titanium rods to her spine in a major surgery last January, Shannon’s spine was shaped like a broad backwards letter “C”. Now, her spine is straight, but it is angled slightly diagonally, causing nonparallel shoulders and hips. Her left shoulder droops and one leg appears to be an inch and a half longer than the other, although both are the same length. Dr. Daubs performed another surgery in March both to adjust this alignment and to strengthen the frontal lumbar section of her spine—he will make incisions in the front and back of her body.
Shannon is healing remarkably from her January surgery. She now can take walks outside and can travel 40 yards with the assistance of her walker and husband, Ray. Friends and family have provided ceaseless support; boxes of food, flowers, foot massages, and a blue Beta fish are only some manifestations of that loyalty. To everyone who has graced Shannon with friendship, laughter, and love, “Thank you for standing by us, for strengthening our feeble knees and holding up or hands that may, on occasion, have a tendency to hang down,” Ray said.
