| During Christmas week 2009, I felt tingling and burning in my legs, along with a “creepy crawly” feeling on my waist. I ignored it for a week, until things got progressively worse. By New Year’s Day, I wasn’t able to walk, had a drop foot, and was losing bowel and bladder function. I was brought to the emergency room and was admitted to the hospital in New Jersey. After a week of many tests, the doctors were dumbfounded. They told me that they were unable to help me, and that I needed to be transferred to Columbia Presbyterian Hospital in New York. The neurosurgeon at Columbia told me I had a cavernous malformation in my spinal cord at T8. It was absolutely terrifying. He performed a 7 hour neurosurgery to respect the bleed. After the surgery, I was paralyzed from the waist down, and was sent to a rehabilitation facility. By the grace of God, I regained movement in my legs after three long months. I went from a wheelchair, to a walker, to a cane. It took me two years to walk again unassisted. Sometimes I look back on all I have been through, and I can’t even believe it. I have had so many ups and downs through this tough journey. One of the things that’s always troubled me though, was the fact that I never had anyone to talk to who has been through the same thing. It can be very isolating. I still have a lot of neuropathic pain from the surgery, but I’m very thankful for how far I have come. |