Princess Eugenie: I Had 8-Hour Surgery at Age 12

2011-06-02 17:45:50

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Thursday ? June 02, 2011 ? 5:56pm

She's a trooper!

Princess Eugenie has revealed her own royal secret. Now 21, the eldest child of Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson underwent 8 hours of intense surgery at age 12 to repair a severe curvature of the spine (a.k.a. scoliosis).

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Eight pins were placed in her back during the operation, leaving Eugenie in intensive care for three days, followed by six days in a wheelchair. The Princess opened up about the memory to London's Telegraph newspaper during a recent visit to London's Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital, where her own surgery took place.

"I've got the scar on my back," Eugenie said -- revealing the scar on her neck -- to the mother of a current 16-year-old patient undergoing scoliosis surgery.

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Eugenie offered encouragement to a young patient. "It hurts so much, I was in so much pain," she said. "Get better!"

"[I've got' good memories coming back even though I'm slightly scared of hospitals," she told the paper, noting how grateful she was for the procedure.

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"I wouldn't look the way I do," she added. "My back would be hunched over. I wouldn't be able to talk the way I do about it and help other children who come to me with the same problem."

Her scoliosis was discovered by accident -- when Princess Eugenie was getting a massage.

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And she's thrilled to be a role model to kids undergoing the same procedure today. "It was a huge part of my life when I was 12 - so young. Children can see me and know that [the operation] works."

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Source: http://www.usmagazine.com/healthylifestyle/news/princess-eugenie-i-had-8-hour-surgery-at-age-12--201126

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