Patient Stories
Sutter Neuroscience Institute
Sam – Riding Bulls after Spine Surgery
When Sam woke up with no feeling in his right arm and hand three years ago, he was perplexed. “Nothing hurt. I was just numb,” he says. Although Sam leads an athletic lifestyle, he didn’t recall a particular injury that could have caused such an ailment.
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Aiden – Autism Specialist offers Hope to Family
To Danyelle, Dr. Chez is a rock star. And she doesn't say that lightly. At age 3 and a half, her son Aiden was diagnosed with autism. At that time they lived out of the state and, although they saw the leading autism experts in the area, the extent of the advice was to modify his diet and do what they could to give their son the best life possible.
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Taylor – Neurosurgery to Halt Tumor
Kids grow fast. But what is too fast? Sara noticed 7-year-old daughter Taylor was growing at a rapid rate. So fast that she would grow out of clothes overnight and go through three shoe sizes in two months. Aware that something wasn’t right, Sara took Taylor to the pediatrician.
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Tom – A Brain Bleed Can Come at Anytime, to Anyone
Tom was at the top of his game. At 46, he had an active life with his wife, three kids, job as general manager of the Fair Oaks Water District and recreation activities like backpacking and triathlons. He was training for the California International Marathon and on no medications. He was the picture of health.
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Bronte's Story – A Family Dedicated to Epilepsy Research
When Bronte was three months old she had her first seizure; that was nearly 16 years ago. Over the first few years of her life she had almost every kind of seizure possible and sometimes had up to 10 grand mal seizures per day. She saw specialist after specialist and tried many different medications.
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Ken – Team Approach
Despite being diagnosed with two aneurysms and having brain surgery - twice - Ken Kaestner considers himself blessed. Two years ago Ken started experiencing headaches, numbness and tingling. Worried that he might be experiencing a neurological condition, Ken made an appointment.
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Sharon – Re-Acclimated to Life After Stroke
In 2001, Sharon met Bruce and in a few months learned first hand the effects of a stroke. Years earlier, Bruce had suffered a hemorrhagic stroke at the age of 36. The two married and Sharon not only became a wife, but a full-time caregiver to the man she loved.
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Rael – Back on the Slopes
Rael was putting a piece of stone on a high shelf when she felt a twinge in her neck. An active 40-something woman who loved to ski, Rael was used to strained muscles and didn’t think much about the soreness in her neck that evening.
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Makayla – Gamma Knife Surgery at 3-years-old
It started as a common cold and turned into a parent's worst nightmare. For Penny and Terry of Las Vegas, the nightmare was all too real. Three and one-half year old Makayla was diagnosed with a brain tumor.
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Miguel – Traveling for Gamma Knife Surgery
When it comes down to it, 10-year-old Miguel of Autlan, Mexico is one lucky little boy. If Miguel hadn't fallen out of his family's old hammock - an event that sent him into a four-day coma - his future would be in certain peril.
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Pastor John – Controlling His Epilepsy and Living Life to the Fullest
Everything changed for Pastor John on Easter weekend in 1999. While grocery shopping for his family gathering, he had a seizure. “I remember that the food labels became blurry,” he said. “And then I remember waking up on a stretcher covered in blood.”
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Angela – Small Price to Pay to be Seizure-Free
After living with epilepsy and seizures for more than 10 years, Angela was relieved and hopeful to finally be treated surgically. Medication had never worked, and her doctors hadn’t been able to pinpoint the part of her brain that needed surgery – until she met Dr. Robert Burgerman, neurologist at Sutter Neuroscience Institute.
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Steve – Latest Innovations Provide Hope
When Steve was 17 he was in a car accident. Years, and many pain pills later, Steve knew it was time to look for other options. That is when he researched the latest innovations in back pain and found spine surgeon Ardavan Aslie, M.D.
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Anthony – Brave 5-Year-Old & Gamma Knife
When 5-year-old Anthony started complaining about his aching head, his mom Tammy initially thought it was just another headache. But when it got worse, Tammy called 911 and raced her son to the emergency room at Sutter Memorial Hospital.
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Ophelia – Back to Life Without Pain
At age 67, Ophelia, PhD., had a pretty active mind and life. “Then wham,” says Ophelia, “everything changed.” Ophelia was suddenly hit with excruciating pain that would spontaneously flare in different parts of her face. And because the excruciating pain would come unannounced, Ophelia was nervous to drive or go out alone.
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Diane – Survivor of Brain Tumor
Diane is sitting in her living room in Sacramento, watching Sen. Edward Kennedy's medical crisis play out before a worldwide audience. And remembering ... She, too, once felt the terror of a diagnosis of malignant glioblastoma, the same form of cancer that threatens Kennedy's life. She endured the rigors of surgery and radiation and chemotherapy, just as Kennedy faces. And like him, she vowed to fight for her survival.
Victor – Spine Surgery and a New Perspective on Life
“I was just a normal, healthy guy with a regular life,” said 35-year old Victor, a software consultant for Deloitte. “And then everything changed.” In June 2008, Victor began having horrible back pain. “I’ve had some back pain before, but it wasn’t anything like this,” he said. “I couldn’t stand or sit up, I had no idea what was happening.
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Caitlin – Trading Scoliosis and Braces for Fashion and Heels
Caitlin, like most teens, has a lot going on with school, friends, cheerleading and staying on top of the latest in fashion. But over the last few years she has also been confronted with scoliosis, wearing braces and the idea of surgery.
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Jaime – Surgery to Marathon
Jaime has been jumping and tumbling since she started gymnastics in the "Mommy and Me" class at age 2. But about seven years ago she started having severe pain. "The pain began in my hips, and then I started having pain and numbness in my lower back and shooting pain down my legs," says Jaime, now 22. "I had trouble sitting for longer than 10 minutes, and it was really hard to concentrate during school."
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Jean – Absolutely Pain Free
"I am absolutely pain-free," says Jean, 57, about the spine surgery he had at Sutter Davis Hospital less than one month earlier.
Quite a liberating experience after three years of severe back pain, six steroid injections, and daily doses of Vicodin and Advil left this ranch operations manager nearly disabled.
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Virginia – From Surgery to Weight Loss
Virginia is an active wife, mother and grandmother who loves bowling, going to her gym and traveling to find the best ingredients for her homemade salsa. But when back and leg pain threatened her weigh-loss goals and left her nearly disabled, Virginia went looking for options.
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Khayla – Collaboration Changes Lives
Khayla was born in the Philippines with a rare kyphoscoliosis condition; a congenital disability called Spondylocarpotarsal syndrome, where her vertebrae were fused together preventing her spine, joints and bones from developing properly. Surgery there resulted in leg paralysis and a progressive curvature of the spine.
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Janine – Work and Play Better Without Pain
Janine Niccoli's eight acres never looked bigger than it did when chronic pain kept her from her chores, horses and dogs. Since 2004 she had been experiencing shooting pain from her back down to her legs. But when her pain started getting in the way of her job as a probation officer, Janine went looking for answers.
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