Comeback from spinal surgery leads Conant athlete to help others

Kristina Gluth returned last week from a softball training trip in Florida, holding her head high.

She and her Schaumburg Sluggers teammates played some of the best teams in the country during a college recruiting tournament, and they hung right in there.

Odds are that the scouts at the tournament never guessed that the Sluggers' second baseman had undergone spinal fusion surgery three years ago for advanced scoliosis. The condition hospitalized her for a week and sidelined her softball career for a year.

Yet now, Gluth said she hardly thinks of her surgically repaired spine, even during games.

"I never feel it at all," the Elk Grove Village teen said, "unless I do something really stupid."

It has been two years since Gluth returned to playing softball. Each December, around the anniversary of her surgery, she makes T-shirts for her softball teammates and classmates at Conant High School that embody her resolve.

The green tie-dyed shirts read: "Believe in Yourself, Do the Impossible."

This year, Gluth shattered her sales numbers from last year, and sold more than 70 T-shirts to classmates, teammates and family and friends.

"I was really surprised that everyone liked them so much," she said. "I didn't plan on making many more."

Gluth earmarked all of her proceeds to Chicago Shriners Hospital where her surgery was performed.

Part of the Shriners Hospital for Children network of facilities, the Chicago medical center specializes in orthopedic conditions, craniofacial cases, such as cleft lip and palate; and spinal cord injuries.

Children up to 18 are treated and they are not charged. Children are accepted as patients based on their medical needs, and not their family's income or insurance status.

Consequently, the Shriners hospitals depend solely on the generosity of donors to deliver their medical care, though they concede that typically does not come from teenagers.

"She is well on her way to a philanthropic lifestyle," said Shriners spokeswoman Cathleen Himes.

Gluth just shrugged her shoulders, and said it was one way she could say thanks for all of her care.

"They did such a good job treating me, and all of the other kids there," Gluth said. "I just wanted to give back."