Caitlin Tawse had a cough every winter since she was nine.

As soon as October rolled around, the 16-year-old from Peterhead, Aberdeenshire, would start "sounding like a dog", as she puts it.

Her mother, Kelly, wondered if it was asthma or seasonal allergies causing the annual "barking", until Caitlin was advised to go and get an X-ray on her chest.

In January last year, Caitlin went to get the results and was told she had a curved spine, known as scoliosis, which had been affecting her for years.

"I was really confused as I didn't know what scoliosis was," she says.

Kelly was also unaware of the condition and was shocked to learn her daughter was not only suffering from the condition but also required surgery to correct it.

Caitlin had expressed concerns her ribs were sticking out - one of the symptoms of the condition - and she was a "weird shape" but her mother played down these concerns as the natural insecurities of someone growing up.

Kelly says: "I always just said 'that's just your shape, it's nothing' because like her I hadn't heard of scoliosis.

"It was a bit of a shock. And then finding out she needed surgery, obviously as much as we had total trust [in the surgeon] it's still a scary thing and although she is 16 she's still my little girl."

What is Scoliosis?

Before the surgery, the pair looked at what might face her as she recovered and discovered that she would require a back brace.

"Caitlin hadn't really realised she would need it and was a bit anxious at the beginning," says Kelly.

"Obviously as a teenager she didn't really want to have this cast on her."

Luckily for Caitlin, an orthopaedic practitioner at the Royal Hospital for Sick Children in Edinburgh had designed a removable spinal jacket used for scoliosis surgery and trauma recovery.

Unlike the traditional bulky casts which severely inhibit recovering patients, the new jacket is less intrusive and aids recovery as it allows natural movement.

Derek Neill developed the new design believed to be the first of its kind in the UK.

He says: "The removable jacket has been around for years but I took the jacket and thought about what I could do to make it light and wearable, because kids wont wear these if they are too heavy.

"A lot of patients come in and do the Google thing, and see these big clumsy jackets and say to me they are worried people are going to laugh at them, make fun of them.

"I take this to the ward and explain it to them and they even get a choice of three colours, and they don't need to worry about the surgery as they get a nice jacket."

The true extent of the teenager's scoliosis was laid bare after the surgery in June 2016.

"[The doctor] showed us the before and after X-rays and you could visibly see how much the curve had been pushing over into Caitlin's lung," explains Kelly.

"They did think it was some sort of winter problem that caused it but now think that it was some sort of allergy and she hasn't had the cough at all this winter.

"It looks as if with her lung being so compromised that it was probably pushing and was making it last longer."

Caitlin and her mother found the special jacket had an immediate effect as she started her recovery.

Kelly says: "The difference it made was immediate, a few days before she got the jacket we tried going out in the car and she was quite sore, and then we got the jacket and tried going out that day and she couldn't believe how much something that basic had such a difference."

Despite initial fears she would be made fun of for her new accessory, Caitlin decided she would not hide it under loose fitting clothes

"I have noticed people staring but I kind of got used to it really quickly and I understand why they are staring," she says.

"When I started seeing the difference it made I didn't care anymore, because it was really helpful."

She adds: "Obviously there was a lot of pain and a lot of things I couldn't do but now I feel quite normal. I sometimes forget the jacket is there, it's just normal life now."