Princess Eugenie opens up about childhood back surgery
In an interview with the Sunday Telegraph, the King's niece opened up about her surgery, saying that she felt "very embarrassed" ahead of the operation and later struggled with the emotional impact of post-surgery care.
Surgeons inserted titanium rods into her spine to correct a curvature caused by scoliosis when she was 12 years old and she spent 10 days on her back after the operation.
She said that her mother, the Duchess of York, Sarah Ferguson, helped her see the post-surgery scar on her back as a "badge of honour".
Scoliosis is a condition where the spine twists and curves to the side. The cause of it is often unknown, and commonly starts in children aged between 10 and 15, according to the NHS.
Eugenie was treated at the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital, in north London, and it was four months before she was able to return to school after it.
"I had a corner room in the hospital with two windows looking out over a car park," the 35-year-old said. "I was too young to notice I couldn't get outside; all I cared about was where my parents and sister were.
"But I do remember watching someone waving to my incredible red-haired nurse through the window and having this feeling that I couldn't reach them," she said.
"I couldn't get out of bed or do anything for myself."
Speaking about how she felt ahead of the operation, she said she felt "very embarrassed about the whole thing".
"I remember being woken up really early before my surgery – I pulled my blanket over my head. I said: 'I don't want to see anyone and I don't want them to see me'," she said.
The operation left a visible scar on her back and she said her mother helped to "train" her brain to think that "scars are cool".
"She was amazing. She'd ask me if she could show it to people, then she'd turn me around and say, 'my daughter is superhuman, you've got to check our her scar'," Eugenie said.
"All of sudden it was a badge of honour – a cool thing I had," she added.
"It became a positive memory, a part of me, that I could do something with in the future. I could help heal other people."
The princess's wedding dress in 2018 showed the scar at the top of her back and ahead of the wedding, she spoke of the importance of showing "people your scars".
Speaking to ITV's This Morning at the time, she described it as a "lovely way to honour the people who looked after me and a way of standing up for young people who also go through this".
"I think you can change the way beauty is, and you can show people your scars and I think it's really special to stand up for that," she added.
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