Up until last week, 15-year-old Cassiel Brisebois asked his mother every day if she’d heard anything about when his spinal surgery would be. But he’s luckier than most. Thanks to his mother’s diligent efforts and the arrival of a new surgeon, there’s still a wait but the surgery is coming up faster than originally expected.
When he was 13, Brisebois developed a curve in his spine. Known as kyphosis, it is the result of a genetic condition called Klinefelter syndrome, which causes him to have an extra X-chromosome. Now, the curve is over 80 degrees.
The syndrome occurs in about one in every 1,000 males and usually isn’t diagnosed until the time of puberty, according to the HealthLink B.C., a government-funded telehealth service that provides certain health information to residents of the province.
“It progressed so quickly,” his 46-year-old mother, Kristin Lindsay, told Global News. “He went from almost no curve to severe curves in the process of a year.”
Pediatric spinal fusions are not performed on Vancouver Island, B.C., where the family lives, so they were referred to the B.C. Children’s Hospital in Vancouver, Lindsay said.
