Princess Eugeniestands tall at 5 feet, 5 inches, thanks to the life-changing efforts of doctors and nurses at Royal National Orthopedic Hospital.
In her latest Instagram post, Eugenie, 28, opened up about her scoliosis diagnosis as a child. She posted a photo of her X-rays, which show the 8-inch rods doctors inserted into her spine and the 1.5-inch screws at the top of her neck after an 8-hour operation she endured at just 12 years old.
Princess Eugenie/Instagram
“Today is International Scoliosis Awareness Day and I’m very proud to share my X Rays for the very first time,” she wrote in the caption. “I also want to honour the incredible staff at The Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital who work tirelessly to save lives and make people better. They made me better and I am delighted to be their patron of the Redevelopment Appeal.”
Eugenie has been a patron of the Redevelopment Appeal, a fundraising campaign for newer facilities and equipment for RNOH, since 2012. As part of her involvement, she revealed moredetails of the lead-up to her surgery and her recovery.
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“I can still vividly remember how nervous I felt in the days and weeks before the operation … After three days in intensive care, I spent a week on a ward and six days in a wheelchair, but I was walking again after that.”
“Without the care I received at the RNOH I wouldn’t look the way I do now; my back would be hunched over, ” she said. “And I wouldn’t be able to talk about scoliosis the way I now do, and help other children who come to me with the same problem. My back problems were a huge part of my life, as they would be for any 12-year-old. Children can look at me now and know that the operation works.”
Perhaps her biggest contribution will be the Princess Eugenie House, a new residential space for parents and other relatives of children being treated in the hospital. Eugenie is known for her humanitarian efforts. She recentlyvisited a house for survivors of human traffickingand is a patron of the Teenage Cancer Trust along withher sister, Princess Beatrice.
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Princess Eugenielaunched her own independent Instagramin March, which makes her the only royal with their own social media account.Meghan Marklefollowed royal protocol anddeactivated her social mediaaccounts after gettingengagedtoPrince Harrylast year.
Eugenie, daughter ofPrince Andrewand granddaughter ofQueen Elizabeth,became engagedto her longtime boyfriend,Jack Brooksbank, in January. Their wedding is scheduled for October 2018 in St. George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle, where her cousinPrince Harry and Meghan Markle were married in May.
source: people.com
