You take between 12 and 20 breaths every minute. Over the next 24 hours, you will inhale and exhale approximately 17,000 to 28,000 times. Unless we are winded from overexertion, controlling our breathing during calming exercises, or intentionally calculating our breaths for diagnostic testing or to strengthen our pulmonary function, most of us don’t usually think about the vital act of breathing. But this wasn’t the case for Zach Crosslin, who was born with a genetic deformity of his chest wall called pectus excavatum.
Up until a few years ago, Crosslin felt as if an elephant were resting on his chest. His sternum had grown inward, crowding his lungs and heart, causing him to routinely fail pulmonary tests. He couldn’t take a full breath and grew winded easily, especially while playing sports. When he was 10, Crosslin’s pediatrician referred him to a pediatric surgeon in Nashville. After three years of monitoring his growth, the surgeon had determined he had reached a plateau. As his 13th birthday approached, the surgeon felt like the window of time was closing. “Either have the surgery this summer, or it will be too late. I won’t be able to do it,” he said.
In 1987, Dr. Donald Nuss, a pediatric surgeon at Children’s Hospital of The King’s Daughters in Norfolk, Virginia, developed a procedure in which a titanium or stainless-steel bar is inserted behind the sternum. Much like braces straighten and align teeth, this curved “Nuss bar” gently pushes the sternum outward, allowing the breastbone and surrounding cartilage to grow properly. After two to three years, once the patient has completed their adolescent growth spurt, a second, less invasive surgery is performed to remove the bar.
Crosslin’s parents, Marty and Angie, didn’t feel at peace about their son undergoing the surgery at 13. What if surgeons removed the bar when he was 16, and it was too soon? After all, he had grown five inches in just one year.
Angie said, “We didn’t know what to do. We felt very conflicted. We prayed about it. Turns out, there was a boy at my mother-in-law’s church who had just had the second surgery. Even though they were strangers to us, they came over that Sunday night after church. My instincts were telling me Zach was too young for the surgery. They encouraged us to seek a second opinion with their son’s orthopedic surgeon at the Children’s Hospital at Erlanger in Chattanooga.”
“After an hour-long consultation, Dr. Lisa Smith agreed that we needed to wait. She used to have the mentality that between the ages of 10 and 13 was the best time for surgery, until she reconnected with a former patient whose chest wall caved in again because he kept growing after his bar was removed. I was relieved when she said, ‘We will watch his growth and make the decision together.’”
Zach said, “Dr. Smith expressed that we needed to wait to have the initial surgery until the ‘sweet spot’ in my growth. I had annual appointments, pulmonary function tests, EKGs, CT scans, and an echocardiogram from the age of 13 to 17.”
Before the surgery on June 14, 2022, his parents ordered him an adjustable bed with a remote-controlled base that allowed him to lift his upper body. During this time, Zach also prepared physically. He said, “Sports helped me prepare for surgery. Having my body in shape helped with my recovery. Not only was I active in sports, but I also did prehab with a physical therapist three times a week for six weeks to get my upper body ready.”
The surgery lasted several hours. Zach said, “I couldn’t bend at the waist or raise my arms for six weeks. My parents had to help with my daily needs. I was unable to twist my upper body for six months. I did rehab twice a week until I was cleared to return to sports.”
Though his friends, family, and church family from Fairlane Church of Christ did their best to keep Zach’s spirits up, the first six weeks were a struggle. “Honestly, depression set in because I had to rely on my parents to do everything. It was difficult, especially since I was so active prior to surgery. I already had deep faith in God, and I knew He was with me throughout the whole journey. The main thing I learned about myself during this time is the importance of patience.”
The very night Dr. Smith removed his post-surgery limitations, Zach joined his teammates on the basketball court. He graduated from Cascade High School in 2024 and, because Chattanooga holds a special place in his heart, enrolled at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga (UTC). He will graduate in December 2027 with a degree in business management.
“As a surgeon, there are patients you don’t forget, and Zach Crosslin is one of them,” said Dr. Lisa Smith. “He and his family have been a pleasure to know, and it has been my privilege to watch him progress from a young man limited by his chest wall deformity to a confident, healthy young man. I am honored that they entrusted me with his care. From our first meeting, he approached every step of treatment with maturity, determination, and grace. Seeing him now — healthy, confident, and thriving after correction of his pectus excavatum — is exactly why we do this work.”
In May 2025, Zach underwent the secondary surgery, and Dr. Smith permanently removed his Nuss bar, which he keeps as a reminder of just how far he’s come.
Now a junior at UTC, Zach is excited about being a Cru leader (formally Campus Crusade for Christ). He works for Goggin Warehousing and splits his time between their Chattanooga and Shelbyville locations. He said, “Put your faith in God because He is always going to provide for you, and if you put yourself around people who love and care about you, everything will work out in the end.” GN
