Four-year old Giulietta Caponi’s cough wouldn’t go away. Her family brought her to Mercy Health Wellington Primary Care for a chest X-ray to see what the issue was. Not all primary care clinics offer imaging, but Wellington does because your gift contributed to the purchase of the equipment.

But the impact of your gift doesn’t end with Giulietta’s cough. A radiologist saw an unusual spinal curve in her scan. A follow up appointment confirmed a diagnosis of scoliosis.

“You don’t usually find a curvature in a four-year-old. It’s not really that common,” says Guilietta’s aunt Amanda Horn. “It was a fluke that we were able to catch it because we had the X-ray.”

Specialists will continue to monitor the child’s condition. Treatment could include a brace, physical therapy or even surgery. Scoliosis is usually not diagnosed until children are 10-15 years old. The early discovery gives Giulietta’s doctors more treatment options.

“If we didn’t have that X-ray machine here in Wellington, I’m sure she would have just been treated for a cough and the curve would have kept growing,” Amanda says.

Giulietta’s case shows the importance of donors like you. When health care providers have the tools they need, their patients are healthier. Amanda and her family are grateful for your support.

“We’re grateful to the Foundation’s donors for giving us access to this equipment here in our rural health system,” she says. “It helps so many people that otherwise wouldn’t be able to get that kind of care. We are very grateful, and our community is definitely thankful for it, too.”