Nevada skier overcomes obstacles, helps others
By Dina Kupfer, KRNV-TV
Katie Lyons was 15 years old and at the peak of her ski racing performance when she learned she had scoliosis.
Beyond natural concerns about surgery, she needed to preserve her spine’s range of motion because she was a competitive downhill ski racer and wanted to remain one. She had recently been named #1 in her age group and was poised to assume a role on the U.S. Ski Team. But her scoliosis was so severe that it would eventually begin to put pressure on her lungs and her heart and would begin to cause a visible deformity.