Corrective Lumbar Fusion Helps Teen Athlete Overcome Failed Spine Surgeries and Pars Fractures

Like a lot of teens, Maya Storch lived life in high gear. When she wasn’t babysitting or rushing between classes, she was going up for the spike on her junior high school volleyball team. And yet, creeping in around the edges was a problem that no teenager should have to deal with: Back pain.

“She wasn’t able to be social and do things normally with friends,” her mother Jill Storch says. “Walking around the mall or going to the beach was agony for her.”

In eighth grade, flare-ups would put Storch on the sidelines in her volleyball games. By her freshman year of high school, it was becoming difficult to even sit through her classes, much less carry a backpack.

Jill Storch watched things get worse for her daughter, but she wasn’t about to let Maya play through the pain. She sought the advice of physical therapists and doctors in Tampa, where the family lives. It quickly became clear that therapy and medication weren’t going to fix the issue. Orthopedists agreed that surgery was needed, and in her sophomore year of high school, Maya went under the knife. Unfortunately, it wouldn’t be for the last time.

The Challenge of Diagnosing and Treating Teen Pars Fractures

Surgeons put screws into Maya’s L3 and L4 vertebrae to try to repair pars fractures — hairline cracks in the weakest parts of the spine — caused most likely by her time in competitive sports. It was one of the least invasive options, but it wasn’t the right one.

“She went back to school, and she said right away, ‘This didn’t work,’” Jill Storch recalls. “She could not sit through a day of school. She would come home in agony with tears in her eyes.”

“There was never a point in time where I was in zero pain,” Maya says. “During school I would have to take breaks and lay down on the floor.”

A return trip to the hospital that same year to try and reset the screws yielded no better results. The entire experience shook their faith in the medical system, but both Maya and her mom were about to find out what a difference the correct diagnosis can make.

Finding Expert Second Opinions for Complex Spine Revisions

The family sought a second opinion from Dr. Geoffrey Cronen, an orthopedic spine surgeon with Orlando Health’s Jewett Orthopedic Institute Spine Center. After two failed surgeries, they were understandably skittish about any more major procedures. From the first consultation, Dr. Cronen put them at ease.

There was never a point in time where I was in zero pain. During school I would have to take breaks and lay down on the floor.— Maya Storch

“Dr. Cronen told us things that I personally didn’t know,” Maya recalls. “Things that [other doctors] hadn’t said to me, like there were other factors that could have impacted the surgery, like my joints wearing down and things like that.”

“He also showed them every part of her spine. ‘He noticed in her thoracic she probably had spina bifida early on,’” Jill Storch says. “He spent so much time explaining why the repairs failed — that they often do because there isn’t good blood flow.”

Dr. Cronen said that if they couldn’t keep the problematic vertebrae from rubbing together and compressing nerves, they would have to fix them in place through a process called lumbar fusion.

“His whole demeanor, his confidence, his explanation of why this was going to work was just spectacular,” Jill Storch says. “He was like, ‘Let me know if you want to think about it,’ and I didn’t.”

Corrective Lumbar Fusion Surgery and Post-Op Recovery

In August 2025, Maya braced herself for surgery once again. As it turned out, the procedure was scheduled on the week before her birthday, and at first, it didn’t feel like much of a gift. Still, Jill Storch breathed a sigh of relief when Dr. Cronen emerged from the operating room with an odd souvenir: the screws from Maya’s prior failed surgeries.

“That’s how I knew they were done,” she says.

Within two weeks, Maya was back at school doing the things her peers took for granted: Studying and socializing.

Life After Spinal Fusion: Returning to Activity and Future Goals

Dr. Cronen remembers the moment that he knew his efforts weren’t in vain. “When they came back for follow-up, mom was crying because she saw her daughter run without having to think about it or wincing in pain for the first time in over two years.”

“[Dr. Cronen] said, ‘We are going to give her her life back,’” Jill Storch recalls, “and he absolutely has.”

Jill Storch keeps the screws from her daughter’s surgeries in a shadow box in the shape of a heart, a reminder of Maya’s resilience. As for Maya, she’s looking forward.

“I’ve been able to get back to normal everyday activities,” she says. “I was never even able to bend forward or anything like that without having any amount of pain.”

At 17, she’s not ruling out a return to volleyball in her senior year and is considering a career in the teaching profession. In the meantime, she’s planning to use her experience for good as a child life specialist, being that light at the end of the tunnel for kids going through their own hospital journey.

“It truly has changed my life in such a positive way,” she says.