My granddaughter, Emya, was just a typical 10 year old. She loved to run and jump and play and spend time with her cousins and her dog. But then one morning, she woke up with a real stiff neck that was leaning to the right. It was really bad, to where she couldn’t bend over to pick things up. She was using her toes to do that. I have to say it scared me. Here was this child, usually so full of life and energy and it seemed like the least little thing caused her pain.

I knew something was wrong so I took her to the doctor. He thought it might be strep and did a thing where they put a tube down her throat. But it wasn’t strep. Another doctor said it was wry neck, which seemed to me like a fancy way of saying, “You got a stiff neck.” She was sent to PT for three weeks and the therapist thought she had scoliosis. All the while, I knew Emya was hurting, and it hurt me to see her. Any grandmother would feel the same way.

Dr. Arlet at UVA had discovered that the bones in her neck, the C1 and C2 vertebrae, were twisted. My grandbaby was lucky to be alive and walking. So we got right back in the car and headed back to UVA. We were scared, but at least we finally had some answers.

Dr. Arlet and Dr. Abel performed a surgery and put her in one of those halos. She didn’t really like that, but it was what she needed to get better. There were some long nights, but I knew that’s where she had to be. She had to stay at the hospital for two and a half weeks and you know, that’s not where a 10-year-old girl wants to be. But everybody there was so nice that they made the time fly by. We had lots of people from our church looking in on us too, so it was nice to know we weren’t alone through all that ordeal.

Now she’s back home and as good as new. Running up and down our street with her cousin Daneesha. Playing with that scrappy little dog. I bet she’s made 100 more drawings to hang on our refrigerator, too. I’m so glad we went to UVA because I don’t want to even think about what might have happened if they hadn’t caught the problem.