One June 24, the morning after our Mom (Nancy) &amp; Dad’s (Denny) 42nd wedding anniversary, Nancy had an accidental fall. We’re not sure what happened because hasn’t been able to clearly remember, but dad discovered her on the floor, in tremendous pain and unable to move her legs. She was rushed to Saint Anthony’s hospital in Gig Harbor via ambulance. At the time, Denny thought she had suffered a stroke, but after being evaluated by the hospital team they discovered that she had a severe acute injury to her spine. It was quickly determined that Nancy's needs required a higher level of trauma care and she was airlifted to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle for emergency neurosurgery.

 

After a quick 10 minute helicopter ride, Nancy arrived at Harborview and the Emergency team immediately got to work. We learned that as a result of mom's fall, she had fractured her C7 vertebra and had a severe spinal cord impingement at the C6 vertebra, right at the base of her neck. You can think of this kind of like a garden hose with a kink; signals from her brain couldn't travel past C6 to the rest of her spine, leaving her unable to consistency move or feel anything below that point in her body. After the Neurology team reviewed her CT scans, they formulated a plan to fuse her spine from C4 to T1. She was immediately scheduled for surgery as soon as an operating table was available.

 

The surgery, which started around 5:30 pm that night, lasted about 2.5 hours and went without complication. During the surgery, the team ended up fusing only C5 through T1 (good news! shorter fusion = better range of motion down the road). Afterwards, Nancy was admitted to the ICU, where she remains as of this writing (June 26). She is still in recovery and the team has been hard at work keeping her comfortable and calm while also trying to conduct the assessments needed to move forward.

 

As you can imagine, the cost of Nancy's care both in the hospital and after she is discharged will be significant. This was a life-altering accident and we have a very long road ahead of us. Anything you are willing to contribute toward her care is greatly appreciated.

Rachel Chamberlain

Anonymous

Alexandra Lofdahl

Lori A Frank

Cindy  Hemphill

Barbara Lee

B Harvey

Mark Thompson

Karissa Harvey

Kelsey Silvernail

Ingrid and Robert Sager

Julia Corpolongo

Rebecca Hildebrand

Michelle Leonard

Verena Guttenberg

Nancy Harvey's Spinal Cord Injury

Nancy Harvey's Spinal Cord Injury

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