RealGM

LOS ANGELES -- Interesting how so many surgeons wear sneakers. The family from rural Colorado noticed that right off the bat. The day the Shattucks met Dr. David Skaggs, at Childrens Hospital on Sunset Boulevard, he had bounced in to examine their 13-year-old daughter, Isabelle, wearing pitch-black running shoes. Their first impression was he seemed athletic. Everything after that was a blur.

The doctor showed them an X-ray of their daughter's spine, a spine that resembled a spiral staircase. Because of scoliosis, one side had a 56-degree bend, the other was at 52 degrees, and he told them that, unless he fixed it, Isabelle could end up deformed and unable to take a full breath. He recommended surgery the following week.

The operation would be major. He would slice her back open, break her spine and reconstruct it with metal rods and screws. He would be using drills and power tools just centimeters from her spinal column, and one slip could mean paralysis or a punctured aorta.

It was a lot for the Shattucks to digest, but they nodded and made their peace with it. They then drove back to the Rocky Mountains, to their home near Grand Junction, Colo., and spent the days before surgery doing yoga and trying to exhale.

Then, one afternoon, the phone rang. It was the surgeon, Skaggs.

"You guys Laker fans?" he asked.