New York

Hi!  I’m Brianna and I’m 16 years old. Some hobbies of mine are skiing, reading, hiking, and baking, especially cake decorating!  I also love cats and spending time with my family. Two years ago we adopted a mini goldendoodle, so now I also love a little dog named Ginny.

I was diagnosed with scoliosis and given a back brace when I was 11 years old. I wore the brace all throughout middle school for 20+ hours a day. At first, wearing that brace made life difficult in many ways, but curvy girl meetings made it easier. The girls I met in our meetings were kind and welcoming girls who understood what it was like to wear a brace. As much as I disliked wearing it, my brace helped me to avoid surgery.

Currently, I am involved in a scoliosis study that is studying the effect of a muscle paralyzing drug that some doctors think may be able to reduce a curve. I hope that this study will help other girls with scoliosis in the future.

I have two little sisters, and my youngest, Chloe, was recently diagnosed with scoliosis at 10 years old. One of the main reasons I started a group in WNY was because she has a curve almost identical to mine and will likely have to face many of the same challenges. I realized there was no longer a Curvy Girl group in our area, so I decided to turn a negative into a positive and start one myself. Wearing a back brace is not something a lot of people can relate to, so it’s important to be able to talk about it with a friend who understands and can relate. A lot of people have helped me on my scoliosis journey and it means so much to be able to pay it forward.