The severe condition that threatens teenagers. A family suddenly found themselves in a desperate situation: “The fastest evolution I've seen”

A family from Olt is desperately looking for solutions to give the girl, a student in the 9th grade, a chance for healing. A condition detected last year evolved rapidly, despite the fact that they followed the doctors' instructions. “It's the fastest evolution I've seen“, says the doctor who made the diagnosis.

Alexandra's colleagues organized a charity fair at the high school PHOTO: Alina Mitran

The Pițur family is in a situation that no parent should go through. In a short time, they have to raise almost 40,000 euros to give Alexandra, the youngest of the family, a chance to heal. For the parents, the amount is enormous, and the moment when they found out the cost of the operation that will save Alexandra from pain and the danger that her organs will be affected was one of the hardest they have ever experienced. Colleagues from the high school to which she was just admitted in the summer also jumped in to help the girl, putting their belongings on display to help raise money.

“She complained of pain. The girl was swimming at the time”

Alexandra Pițur is 15 years old. At the beginning of last year, when she got home from swimming practice, she told her parents she had back pain. The parents went with the child to the hospital, to the Emergency Department. Initially, the doctors recommended the mother to massage the area and apply an ointment, without much investigation, suspecting a muscle contracture and linking the girl's pain to the fact that she practiced swimming, and the training was quite intense. But the pain didn't go away. The next attempt was at a pediatric orthopedic doctor, who after a clinical examination and an x-ray made the diagnosis: scoliosis. The disease was already advanced, the deformation angle being 60 degrees.

Since then, a long road has begun, only things, instead of simplifying, have become more complicated. The doctor from Slatina recommended that they go to Bucharest for additional investigations and solutions, where they also followed the doctors' instructions.

Alexandra has been wearing a special corset for over a year, but the disease has progressed even so PHOTO: saving a heart

“We were advised to wear a corset, hoping that we will stop the evolution of the disease, that the scoliosis will not progress. I kept her in a corset 22 hours out of 24, she wore it all the time, more non-stop, she only took it off when she showered and then put it back on. In addition, physiotherapy, physical therapy, until we had X-rays again last year around October, let's see how it goes with the corset. The angle had increased by 8 degrees”, the teenager's mother reported.

The parents were told about the operation for the first time, but at the same time they were encouraged to continue to try wearing the corset.

Throughout this period, the parents were given referral tickets for various investigations. Never, says the mother, has she been able to make an appointment and make them free of charge. “They gave me some MRI referral tickets. I couldn't find any way to do as long as the sending ticket was valid, in the 30 days. I looked during that time to make appointments and couldn't find it. Craiova, Bucharest, nowhere. Everything was paid. And during this time I discovered Mr. Dr. Thiery, at a private hospital. I went to yours for a check-up, let's see, let's get another opinion. We were x-rayed again, the spine had advanced a lot, the deformation angle had reached 82 degrees”, said the mother.

Then they were convinced that they could not wait any longer and that the surgery was absolutely necessary, but when they were faced with the costs, they felt that the ground was slipping away from under their feet.

The pre-operative investigations and the intervention amount to 170,000 lei, an amount impossible to cover for the family whose only source of income is the salaries, and they are modest. On top of these costs are added those necessary for post-operative recovery. They already had bank loans, so this option no longer existed either. This is how a humanitarian campaign was started, through which a good part of the money was collected.

“Now, looking at the pictures, I notice that she had a certain position”

The angle of deformation has increased so much that it is now visible to the naked eye that the teenager is facing a problem. In addition, breathing difficulties appeared, and the big risk is that other organs will be affected, the mother explains. At the time when the investigations began, the pains were the only alarm signal, as the child had not had X-rays done over time, says the mother.

“I didn't notice anything. Now, sitting to analyze the pictures from the past, I saw that she had a certain posture, in all the pictures she had a certain position, but I thought that this is how she chooses to sit in the pictures, no way… I tell you honestly that I didn't even know what this scoliosis meant until last year, I didn't know about such a thing. The worst thing is that there is a risk of affecting his internal organs, not to mention his physical appearance. Now he already breathes harder and gets very tired,” said the mother. The doctors explained to the parents that the problem will continue to worsen in the years to come if surgery is not performed and the angle of deformity exceeds 100 degrees.

On the other hand, with surgery, the problem could be solved in one operation, but followed by a recovery period.

The question that was asked to the parents – Why did you choose to do the operation in the private environment and not in a state hospital, with lower costs? – has a simple answer. They thought a lot about the risks and, learning that the technology used is superior to that of the state hospital, and the doctor's experience is vast, they chose the path that at one point seemed impossible. In addition, after the experience of so many investigations carried out with money, despite the referrals they received and which they could not use (my mother still has them in her medical file), they were convinced that even in the public hospital the costs would not be zero.

“He followed all the directions, but he evolved very quickly”

Pediatric orthopedic doctor Gheorghe Ciobanu, the one who established the diagnosis in Slatina and referred the parents to Bucharest, says that the family respected everything they were told, but the evolution was extremely fast. “They followed all the indications, wore a corset, physical therapy, but very quickly it evolved in the last stage. It is the first case in which I see such a rapid evolution. Some stabilize”the doctor specified.

Unfortunately, the cases in which such problems are detected in teenagers are no longer rare, even if not all of them mean a serious stage, which cannot be recovered without surgical intervention. Out of four to five cases, one causes problems, the doctor said. Even more problematic is that parents who are faced with such a diagnosis, at least in a small town, where there are no possibilities for advanced intervention, often have to look for solutions on their own. “These cases must be followed, step by step, including the evolution after physical therapy. You take an X-ray, see how it evolves. It's not yours anymore, you send it on. It doesn't happen like that everywhere”the doctor added.

On the other hand, a periodic observation, to be done by a specialist – family doctor, school doctor, etc. – so that the disease does not evolve so quickly without being detected, it is desirable.

Scoliosis, which is a deformity of the spine characterized by an abnormal “S” or “C”-shaped lateral curvature, is of several types. It also manifests itself in young children, between 0-3 years old, although it is rarer and sometimes corrects itself spontaneously. In children between 4-9 years it requires supervision, because it can progress during growth. Adolescent scoliosis, on the other hand, is the most common form and affects especially girls, between the ages of 10 and 16, when the body is growing rapidly and the spine is more susceptible to deformation.

There are some signs that can indicate a problem of this type and that parents should watch out for: asymmetry of the shoulders or waist; a shoulder blade appears more prominent; tilting the trunk to one side; an appearance of difference in the length of the legs. Back pain, muscle fatigue and breathing difficulties are manifested in the severe forms.

In the less serious stages, physical therapy and wearing a corset are sufficient for recovery, but when the curvature exceeds 45-50 degrees, the question of surgical intervention arises.

“We want to put in the last money that needs to be raised”

The Pițur family initially tried to solve the problem of raising money with the help of acquaintances. However, as time became extremely precious and resources were limited, it was finally accepted to start a campaign. Alexandra's colleagues, the students from the “Nicolae Titulescu” Theoretical High School in Slatina, also mobilized and organized a charity fair three days in a row, putting up for sale beloved objects, toy collections, shoes and clothes that they loved but can no longer wear, books, jewelry, decorative objects, etc. The students from the Arts classes painted, in turn, paintings that they put up for sale on Friday, November 14, 2025, the last day of the fair.

The students displayed an impressive collection of objects PHOTO: A. Mitran

The fair is organized for three days. PHOTO: Alina Mitran

“I was a little pressed for time. Since last week we have been trying to find more ways to help, because we want to put in the last money that needs to be raised, about 5,000 euros. The faster we collect them, the faster they go to surgery. There are her classmates here who help us, there are also students from other classes, the whole high school participates. I previously collected, for another humanitarian case, the sum of 52,000 lei. We believe that we will succeed even now”said Larisa Elena Renghea, president of the Student Council from “Nicolae Titulescu” high school.