Meghan: Overcoming Scoliosis and Phenylketonuria to Break Boundaries in Flag Football

Meghan’s favorite sport is football, which becomes harder to play competitively the older you get as a female athlete. So, she helped change the rules so more girls can play flag football.

Meghan is no stranger to overcoming hurdles like this — her accomplishments on and off the field have come while living with two lifelong medical conditions.

The phenylketonuria diagnosis

When she was born, Meghan was diagnosed at Children’s Hospital Colorado with phenylketonuria (PKU), a rare metabolic disorder. PKU makes it nearly impossible to break down the amino acid, phenylalanine, which is found in protein-rich foods.

If left untreated, PKU can cause major health issues including brain damage, seizures, tremors, developmental delays and behavioral and emotional problems. Luckily, Meghan was diagnosed via newborn screening. With medication and nutrition care, Meghan has remained her active self.

“I love playing games and being active,” Meghan says. “They keep me moving and keep my organs running.”

Spinal fusion surgery to treat scoliosis

Around age 7, Meghan’s mom, Susan, noticed a curve in her spine and she was diagnosed with scoliosis. Meghan started wearing a brace to help stop the curve of her spine. This diagnosis couldn’t stop Meghan, either. Shortly after receiving her brace at age 10, Meghan started playing recreational flag football.

After five years with the braces, her curve was only getting worse. Meghan consistently sees our metabolic experts for nutrition management and PKU follow-ups, but it was time to visit spine surgeon Sumeet Garg, MD, in our Orthopedics Institute. At age 15, Meghan decided to have surgery to correct her scoliosis.

While the surgery corrected the curvature in her back, Meghan developed a rare complication called superior mesenteric artery syndrome. The dramatic correction of her spine added over two inches to her height, and while that isn’t usually a problem, for Meghan it compressed a section of her intestine by a blood vessel.

Luckily, our team of specialists quickly recognized the issue. A team of gastrointestinal experts, dietitians and spine surgeons treated her with nutritional support to relieve the pressure on her intestine. Despite the unexpected setback, Meghan didn’t miss much time on the field and feels better than she has in a long time.

“She never pursued surgery because of the down time, and we've been super impressed by how innovative it has been,” Susan says. “We had hard times, but it was the right decision, and I feel like the outcome is better than any of us could have thought.”

How Meghan helped shape the future of flag football for female athletes

As the only girl on her team for years, Meghan played a huge part in making a difference for female athletes in male-dominated sports. Last year, she participated in our sports medicine research, which found that flag football is not only a positive influence on the health and well-being of girls, but provides more physical safety than tackle football. Thanks to Meghan’s involvement and our research, female flag football is now officially sanctioned as a high school sport in Colorado.

Since aging out of both recreational and club flag football, and without a high school team to play for, Meghan and Susan remain hopeful for the future of the sport.

“We’re all-in on flag football because it is safer for the brain than tackle football,” Susan says. “There have been opportunities up until now and I hope we can find a high school team for her to join. We’re really happy it is becoming a high school sport instead of just recreational.”

Now, with three league championships under her belt, and high school graduation on the horizon, Meghan found an interest in journalism. Last year, she spent a year in her high school's online broadcast program keeping sports at the forefront.

“She can talk about everything to do with sports,” Susan says.