In many ways, Mackenzie Boyll is an average 10-year-old. She enjoys running, riding horses, listening to music, and making art.
And on May 10, she was the recipient of the first-ever vertebral body tethering surgery in military medicine.
In March, Mackenzie was diagnosed with scoliosis, a condition characterized by a three-dimensional deformity of the spine, by her primary care provider at Branch Health Clinic Makalapa on Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Honolulu, Hawaii.
A week later, Mackenzie and her parents met with Lt. Col. (Dr.) Matthew Cage, an adult and pediatric spine surgeon at Tripler Army Medical Center in Honolulu, to discuss her treatment options.