Patient Stories
Five patients on what brought them to surgery, and what came after it.
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Marisette V.
A competitive rower lost the feeling in her left foot over a matter of months. A single minimally invasive fusion sent her home the same day.
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Barbara Fritz
A bad fall led to an MRI, and the MRI found a nerve tumor the size of an avocado pressing on her spinal cord, aorta, and left lung.
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Bob Keeley
He flipped his mountain bike at Snowshoe and broke his neck. Six months after surgery he was skiing again.
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Mike Russo
A 2004 crash left him with a spine that kept collapsing. Two reconstructions straightened it and gave him back his height.
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Derrick Allen
A Pittsburgh police officer arrived at UPMC Presbyterian on ECMO with a broken neck. Fourteen months later he was back on full duty.
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