Honduran girl comes out of spinal surgery in stable condition

The 15-year-old Honduran girl with severe scoliosis, who was discovered by a Vanderbilt doctor on a mission trip two years ago, had successful spinal fusion surgery Monday, a VU Children’s Hospital spokeswoman said.

Escarleth Betancourt-Gutierrez was in surgery for 10 hours before she came out of the spinal fusion procedure doing well and in stable condition.

Escarleth’s surgery was performed by orthopedic surgeon Dr. Greg Mencio. Without the surgery Escarleth was facing physical deformity in addition to serious respiratory and cardiac complications.

The surgery involved the straightening of Escarleth’s spine and then fusing it to a steel rod to prevent further curvature.

Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital and Mencio provided the surgery courtesy of Harpeth Hills Church of Christ members, which supplied the modest $5,000 fee required. The church, which regularly conducts mission trips to Honduras, held a prayer service for Escarleth on Sunday night.

Several Lipscomb University students who also have participated in mission trips to Honduras have rallied around Escarleth and her family.

The church became involved in Escarleth’s cause thanks to one if its members, Dr. James Netterville, who also works at Vanderbilt. Through previous trips to Honduras, Netterville had known Escarleth for about five years, but only discovered her condition two years ago. The spinal fusion surgery was over the heads of the hospitals in Honduras, Netterville said.

Realizing its severity, he petitioned the hospital to perform the surgery, rallied his church to pay the fee and worked to bring Escarleth and her mother Rosario to Nashville.

“I am privileged I got to meet her and play a role in this,” Netterville said. “It was a great privilege just to be a small part in getting her up here.”

Escarleth will be in recovery for the next several days before she is sent home with the Netterville family. If her recovery goes as planned the surgery will allow Escarleth to live without the side effects of the scoliosis.