My Brother Mark Needs Urgent Back Surgery

Hi, my name is Debbie Taylor Lewis and I am praying for a surgical miracle for my dear big brother Mark Taylor. He is in urgent need of reconstructive spinal surgery that could prevent him from paralysis in the near future! His condition of spinal degeneration and debilitating pain has been growing over the years, but recently it has been reaching a crisis point.

The damage to his spine is impeding his regular daily function to the point where he is having trouble using his legs at times along with other frightening symptoms. Mark is currently spending most of his days bedridden.

As I'm sure most of us have experienced, Canada has a very slow medical system that often cannot meet the needs of citizens before things reach a critical state, which tragically is sometimes too late for intervention. Mark has recently had a surgeon in Buffalo NY who has advised him on the type and urgency of surgery required.

This doctor would be able to do the surgery for Mark but it will be very expensive, over $100,000. Mark and his partner Leann are hard-working, independent people who would never want to ask for money from anyone. They are usually the ones giving or helping others. Since they have been put in this desperate situation I want to help any way I can. So I am reaching out try to help Mark in this urgency to save him from paralysis. I know it will take a lot of caring people to reach this goal.

Mark's Physician is contacting 2 surgeons in Canada that he knows are capable of this type of surgery. However, he has said their wait times are often 2 years or more. The harsh reality is Mark does not have 2 years to wait. The doctor warned Mark that if he doesn't get this tended to very soon it is likely he will lose the use of his legs, bladder and bowels. We hoped we could get into a surgeon here in Canada promptly, but that is not looking very promising at all. So I know we need to start this process of gathering funds now.

Daily his family is watching him get worse, and we realize the urgency ahead of us to help him. The increasing pressure on his spinal nervous system is causing severe pain and weakness which is interfering with his ability to travel for work, at most if he needs to go out to pick up medications even that leaves him suffering.

Mark has always been hard-working, ambitious and an independent type who is willing to push through any obstacle to do what is required of him. He has a consistent character of perseverance like few others ever show, pushing past pain, setbacks and hardship to achieve his goals.

Best of all he has become a Grandpa in recent years and his daughter is expecting another baby in October! Mark loves to babysit and can no longer pick his granddaughter up or take her for adventures like he used to. Mark has 4 kids of his own and as our family grows we truly hope he will be able to fully enjoy all the grandchildren to come.

My hope and prayer is that somehow the Lord will help us gather together enough funds to assist Mark in obtaining the quality surgery he needs and soon enough to prevent any further damage or God forbid an unnecessary and preventable paralysis.

We would appreciate your prayers and spreading the word of this need. We are so grateful to anyone who feels led to help out financially. Every little bit would make a difference! May God bless you for your concern.

A word from Mark:

"As a teen and into my early 20’s, I spent my free time doing mainly two things:

1. Participating in every sport and outdoor activity I could or

2. Working any and every part-time jobs I could find

From a young age, I trained hard for Track & Field with a focus on sprinting, high, triple, and long jump. I also loved basketball, volleyball, baseball, and hiking/skiing/canoeing in the outdoors. All these high-impact activities over time can take a toll on any healthy back.

What I didn’t know was that I was born with a flat low back that didn’t have the proper curve in it. It turns out that curve is very important as it serves as a type of shock absorber as it flexes when your feet land from a run, jump, skiing moguls or when carrying heavy loads like packs and canoes. Without that curve, all the force is absorbed directly by the thin discs between the vertebrae wearing them out quicker.

Looking back now, I know I did a lot of wear and tear damage to my body and had many stress injuries including several low back strains, or spasms that lasted days or even weeks.

We didn’t do much for rehabilitation like physio or chiro back then. You would just go see a doctor if you broke a bone maybe. When I got hurt I mostly just rested until I felt healed up and then keep going.

We weren’t a wealthy family so I was happy to find part-time jobs to help out to allow me to participate in all these activities. They were mainly physical labour jobs, ranging from work on fruit farms, chicken farms, construction site clean-up, landscaping, and various types of outdoor renovating/painting homes.

While attending Brock University, on my summer breaks I would walk the neighbourhood and ask if anyone needed their house painted, driveway/deck sealed, landscaping, or siding scrubbed. When I was 23 I was painting the exterior of a 3-story house in Grimsby right on Hwy 8. I was up about 25 feet on a fully extended double-extension ladder painting the soffits. I didn’t have proper harness gear and I reached too far out causing the ladder to slide and then my reaction made it twist and spin me off. I landed on my feet but my legs collapsed and my tailbone rammed straight into the ground causing an electric shock feeling in my legs and spine. After lying motionless for a while, the pins and needles in my legs seemed to stop and I could move them so I slowly got up. Other than being quite sore and stiff, I seemed ok. I decided to pack up and go home. The next couple of weeks I had to hobble around and mostly rest. I didn't realize the damage that had been done. I had bruised my tailbone skiing moguls a few times in the past and figured this was similar. My back never really recovered after this, and I had to quit all impact sports, physical labour jobs, and some of the

more rugged activities.

Things just got worse and worse through my 20’s and I finally went to see my doctor about constant back pain. I was put on painkillers and finally had an MRI done. This is when I learned I genetically had a flat lower back, I had an old spiral fracture of L-5 vertebrae, a torn ligament near my spine and pelvis that helps stabilize your spine, and severely damaged 3 discs that were also worn quite thin. Likely a combination of the fall and all my activities and work choices.

By 30, due to lack of activity, I had become very out of shape and quite limited in the ability to complete tasks as simple as light yard work or picking up and carrying a child. I had 4 small children that I wanted to be active with, so I sought out any treatments and physio to help. I became dedicated to a program I read about in a book called “Take Control of Your Back Pain.”

Over the next couple of years, I improved greatly in strength and mobility from the daily regimen of exercise and stretching allowing me to get in shape and be more active again. I was able to reduce my pain meds some, but have never been able to be fully off them. I have dealt with daily pain and meds ever since, but at least I was back to fairly functional. I enjoyed many activities again with my kids. I was involved with all their sports and was able to coach my son’s baseball team for years, become an avid fisherman and hiker again, and got into weight training as my sport. My kids were all very active as well in sports but I tried to keep them from making some of the same mistakes I did and always got proper rehab and physio for them after any injuries. I also made sure to check if they had the same genetic low back weakness as me and luckily, they do not.

We had our first grandchild arrive when I turned 50 and a second one now on the way at 52. I want to play an active role in their lives as well. I dream of taking them out boating and fishing, hiking with our dogs, and being involved in their activities too. I always told people that I wanted to have my family young so that I could be very involved with grandkids someday.

Unfortunately, about 2 months ago my back got increasingly worse and worse. The more treatments, chiro, physio and different things that had worked in the past that I tried just seemed to make things worse. Then one day about 3 weeks ago I felt something in my lower back just let go. It almost felt like my back broke is all I can think to describe it. Everything felt very unstable and I can feel vertebrae move and clunk even if I just take a deep breath. Extreme pain started soon after that. It was like my whole life had just stopped and I could barely care for myself at this point.

I went to my GP and he advised me to go to ER immediately after I told him my thighs tingle and feel unstable and weak. I have to walk very carefully, slowly and can only go short distances. I drove to Hamilton General, where they did a CT scan and nerve tests to see if there was a spinal cord emergency. They deemed it not to be an emergency and sent me home but told me they would get me a consult in the future with a spine surgeon there. After getting no callbacks from leaving messages at the surgeon’s office in Hamilton, I decided to call my chiropractor in Buffalo. He got me an MRI in 3 days and then he referred me to Dr. Cameron Huckell, the top orthopedic surgeon for Western New York. I got in to see him within 2 days. He took X-rays as well as my MRI and did a detailed analysis and examination of me. I have a badly destabilized area at L-2 L-3 that is hypermobile and causing severe localized pain and pinching the nerves going to my bladder, bowls, hips, and thigh muscles. I also have badly pinched nerves from bone spurs at L-5 S-1 that are causing all the pain and burning in the back of my legs, knees, and feet.

Dr. Huckell said that I need a full lumbar reconstruction surgery to stabilize everything and free the nerves. He said it is not optional at this point or I will eventually be paralyzed from the waist down including my bladder and bowels. To put emphasis on that, he told me of another person he saw that had a similar condition that became paralyzed while waiting for surgery here in Ontario due to the long waitlist.

Dr. Huckell was very compassionate about the fact that it would cost about $80,000 US to have the surgery done by him, which will be around $110,000 CAD. On top of that there will be costs for the home care afterwards. He said there are only 2 surgeons in Ontario that he would trust to do the difficult surgery. Dr. Robert McBroom in Mississauga and Dr. Drew Bednar at McMaster. He knows them both and offered to call them on my behalf. He also said he knows that they typically have about a 2 year wait list to have surgery performed by them and he told me honestly, he does not think I have that much time to wait.

I am on 3 different types of pain meds now and feel like a shell of the person I used to be. I’m basically housebound, unable to do any exercise, or even just walk my dogs to the backyard to play fetch. I would be lying if I didn’t say the thought of going paralyzed and waiting for surgery is terrifying. I am praying for a miracle to come my way, we have a long road ahead with not only this surgery but the recovery that will follow. With the states being our only viable option due to the long Canadian wait list."