Published: Thursday, 25th June, 2009 4:32pm

Dancing dream becomes reality

by Rose Harland

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EVERY teenage girl dreams of slipping on a beautiful dress and dancing with their friends at their school prom.

But for one 16-year-old the feeling of stepping out onto the dance floor to celebrate the end of her GCSE exams will be even sweeter after a gruelling 18-month recovery from a major operation.

Diagnosed with scoliosis when she was 13-years-old, 18 months ago Melaney Raby underwent surgery to straighten her spine and from her hospital bed the dream of going to prom seemed a long way off.

Melaney, who will join her Garth Hill College classmates at tonight"s (Thursday) prom, said: 'Before the operation I was always so conscious that my back was curved, I thought that everyone could see it and I never thought I"d be able to wear a tight dress to prom.

'I"m just so excited and being able to go to prom has made all the operations worthwhile.' Melaney"s parents Jeff, 57, and Kim, 49, first noticed her spine curved sideways when she was in Year 7 and a year later she was diagnosed with scoliosis.

Throughout Melaney"s early teens the condition worsened and in November 2007 she underwent an operation at specialist hospital Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre in Oxford.

Surgeons removed one of Melaney"s ribs to get to her spine where they inserted a metal rod and five huge bolts to keep it straight.

Melaney, who lives in Dorset Vale, Warfield, said: 'I woke up from the operation and I was finding it hard to breathe, my lung had collapsed.

'From then on I had to have x-rays morning and night, the doctors had to come to my bed to do it so everyone else had to be moved off the ward.'

After the operation Melaney was in intensive care for several days and during her recovery she missed three months of school.

When she returned to classes she had to wear a brace over her uniform.

Melaney said: 'At the time I hated it but after going through it all it"s definitely been worth it.'

A keen dancer, Melaney was also able to mark her recovery by performing in dance show Fuzz Aid at South Hill Park on Tuesday.

Proud dad Jeff said: 'She has been very brave, she never complained and she always looked very positively at what she needed to do.

'It was a very worrying time for us all, especially when you think of the area they were working on, one slip could have severed a nerve and she would have been paralysed.

'Now she"s back at school doing sport and dancing, it"s just amazing.'