Special needs teenager Mihdi Brock is to undergo spinal fusion surgery, his mother Claire Quinlan has decided.Mihdi, who turned 16 yesterday, was born with progressive kyphoscoliosis curvature of the spine and a host of unrelated issues.Doctors did not expect him to live beyond ten and initially refused to operate as it was feared the surgery would do more harm than good.A treatment regime which included traditional eastern medicine, has been credited with extending the Bermudian teenager’s life expectancy to between 55 and 70 years of age.Mihdi’s parents have been divorced for several years now. Ms Quinlan was awarded sole legal and physical custody of the teenager in February.News of the impending surgery has disappointed his father, Marvin Brock.He told The Royal Gazette that he believes the risks continue to outweigh the benefits of surgery.He described the custody ruling which forbids him contacting his son until he has fully recovered from the surgery, and then only at the discretion of his mother, as a “travesty”.“Not wanting to violate the law, I continue to pray daily for the best outcome for my son,” he said in an e-mailed statement.The surgery was originally scheduled for May 9 but Ms Quinlan cancelled it after she discovered a surgeon who specialises in especially difficult cases.Lawrence Lenke, a well-regarded surgeon in St Louis, Missouri, is to operate on Mihdi at the end of August.Ms Quinlan is very comfortable with her decision.“Mihdi’s surgery to him [Dr Lenke] is not that big a deal,” she said.“You want somebody who is very experienced with this level of deformity. The end results promised by each doctor was very, very different. It was a no-brainer to make the decision to go to St Louis.”Mihdi’s spinal curve would be reduced from 140 degrees to 50 degrees if the surgery is successful, making him six inches taller. Surgery is normally recommended when the curvature is at 30 degrees, according to Ms Quinlan. Mihdi’s spinal curvature increases by two degrees every year.“That is able to happen because of all of these years of therapies we have been doing with him the stretching and manipulation of the spine,” said Ms Quinlan. “We’ve got this wonderful level of flexibility that is rare with this type of kyphoscoliosis. So this doctor is going to take advantage of that hard work.”She added: “If that’s not a better quality of life I don’t know what is.“He will be 5ft 3in, which is my height, and his legs will continue to grow so he should be 5ft 6in as an adult.“My goal for Mihdi is the best quality of life he can have. It will take two years to be completely healed from this surgery, so at 18 he would be ready to take on the world. There’s no reason he cannot be self-sufficient. There’s no reason he cannot have a family of his own. That’s the goal.”She said of the recent court decision: “The judge gave me sole custody because I have an open mind. And she felt, of the two of us, I was the better person to make the hard choices for Mihdi. That’s a heavy burden and I feel comfortable with the choices made so far.“He’s doing great emotionally, physically. He’s getting stronger every day. He can withstand the surgery. I have been to every specialist and he’s gotten clearance from all of them.“Are there concerns? Of course there are. Do the benefits outweigh the risks? Yes.”