To say Aaron Dopf is seeing the world from a different view is an understatement.

Dopf grew up with Emery-Dreyfuss muscular dystrophy, a degenerative myopathy characterized by weakness and atrophy of muscle without involvement of the nervous system. When he turned 18, he started to have problems with his neck and as time progressed his head bent backwards from his body. Unable to move his head down as his face aimed skyward, Dopf physically could not look straight ahead.

"Essentially I had to hold my head with one hand and I couldn''t see down," says Dopf. "Walking around was extremely difficult and when I sat I would have to bend my body and put my chest on the desk to look forward."

A graduate student in philosophy at Kansas University, Dopf traveled to medical centers across the country searching for answers, all the while living with stares from curious onlookers.

Things changed for Dopf when he found K. Daniel Riew, MD, professor and chief of cervical spine surgery in the department of orthopedic surgery at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and Washington University School of Medicine.

"Within a minute, it was such a contrast from anything I''d seen my entire life," says Dopf. "No doctor had ever asked me how this affected my life, he said it was an unacceptable way of being, and he was the first person to say he could fix it."

After two lengthy operations straightening his spine using an extensor release, Dopf says the improvement is nothing short of dramatic.

"While others in a similar situation might have despaired, Aaron was a positive thinker who had clearly not let his physical condition hinder his life," says Dr. Riew. "We were fortunately able to help him by realigning his cervical vertebrae and releasing his severely contracted muscles."

"I can''t say enough about how great Dr. Riew is, and what it meant to take as much time as he did to talk to me and my family, says Dopf. "He''s an amazing doctor, and a remarkable human being."

Now walking upright, Dopf just completed a trip to Europe and will continue at Kansas in his new role as teaching assistant.