He Refused Spinal Surgery So He Can Ride Dirtbikes!
A few months ago we had the opportunity to interview Be Youneek sponsored rider Rowan Thompson.
A bit of back story…
Rowan was born with DiGeorge Syndrome (22q11) a disorder caused by a defect in chromosome 22.
One of the symptoms of 22q11 is Congenital Heart Disease, at only 3 days old Rowan had to have surgery on his Heart as he didn’t have the valve connecting his Heart to his Pulmonary Artery which meant that blood wasn’t getting taken to his lungs to get oxygenated.
Rowan in hospital at 3 days old.
Rowan has had two open heart surgeries, the first one when he was one and a half years old, and the other when he was 15 years old.
Another symptom of 22q11 is scoliosis. Rowan has a rather serious case with 3 curves in his spine at 50 degrees.
X-ray showing the bends in Rowan’s spine.
After waiting years to have all of his Heart surgeries to be completed, Rowan was in line to have a life changing operation to have rods inserted into his back to straighten the curves in his spine.
Rowan told us that in a meeting with the surgeon leading up to the operation, the surgeon told him that if he were to proceed with this operation then he won’t be able to ride motorbikes any more.
Upon receiving this news, Rowan told the doctor that he will not have the surgery.
Rowan is now pursuing his career to become a professional Freestyle Motocross rider.
Follow Rowan’s progress on his socials, bigdog_fmx on instagram and FMX Life on YouTube.
Watch the video of our interview, up now on the Be Youneek YouTube channel