Dear Family and Friends,

 

Many of you might have heard about Dawn Ruminski and what she is going through. If not, I want to share her story, condition, the consequences of the unimaginable happening, and ask for your prayers and help in four ways.

 

Dawn’s Story:

 

For those who have not met Dawn or who knew her earlier in her career, let me try and summarize the life and impact of the most incredible person I know. Dawn was an enlisted medic in the US Army, got out of the military to get her paramedic degree, and was a practicing paramedic in Henderson County, NC for several years. When our daughter was born, Dawn decided to pursue an even more incredible goal and went to West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine to become a doctor.

 

She graduated from medical school and went back into the Army for another ten years, including a tour in Afghanistan. In 2019 Dawn was medically separated from the US Army because the osteoarthritis in her hip prevented her from being a doctor in any military facility. She was in constant daily pain, and any little trigger would cause her debilitating agony. Her time championing soldiers as an active-duty soldier was over. Still, she refused to stay down or stop serving people despite a 90% disability rating from the VA and every reason to slow down.

 

 

She used all the funds the US Army gave her as a down payment on a Valley Physical Medicine in Fayetteville, NC. It is an Integrated Medical Clinic with multiple specialties that serve people with non-opioid pain relief, helping to heal and restore instead of just covering up the pain. One month after purchasing VPM, COVID-19 restrictions started across the country! All through COVID Dawn kept the clinic open, helping people manage their pain without resorting to the emergency room, despite the cost and danger. It was hard, and even more challenging for a first time business owner, but with the help of a flexible staff and government support programs VPM kept helping the people of Fayetteville.

 

 

 

Her Life-Altering Surgical Complication:

 

At the same time, Dawn’s own pain was growing more severe. After working with the VA for two years, they offered her one of the most proven and reliable surgeries available: a total hip replacement. The VA even sent her to Duke, where everyone expected her to walk out of the operating room the same day with a new hip and only needing a few weeks of physical therapy.

 

What happened on September 14, 2021 has changed her life, possibly forever. When she woke up from the hip replacement surgery, she had no movement in her lower left leg, and constant pain like a lightning bolt shooting from her foot up to her hip. The surgeon had an MRI taken, but it showed nothing. There was obviously something wrong, so her surgeon decided to do something that is incredibly rare. He went back into the same leg to try and find the problem. They discovered one of the spreaders had cut 80% through her sciatic nerve during the second surgery. A second surgeon worked for hours sewing the severed nerve ends back together.

 

 

Since September 22, Dawn has spent every day in pain. For months each day was a new kind of agony as the nerve began the journey of regrowth. Sometimes the pain is a lightning bolt. Other times it feels like hot nails are being hammered into her foot or calf for seconds or minutes at a time. Fire ants or demon dogs sometimes feel like they are chewing on her foot. The constant pain that changes its attack every day takes an immense toll on her physically, emotionally, and mentally.

 

 

Dawn is a fighter. She has improved slowly since the surgeries. For the first month at home, she lived on the couch downstairs. With regular physical therapy and lots of tears and work she was able to make it upstairs to her own bed. In the months following, she progressed to using a walker and now a cane for short distances. She has even regained about 11 millimeters of touch sensation down from her knee. None of the doctors are willing to even guess at her odds of recovering. The best anyone can say is that she will likely have improved as much as she is going to in the next year.

 

Dawn’s Need:

 

While going through all the pain and work to improve, the two biggest weights on her mind have been the needs of her staff and patients at Valley Physical Medicine. VPM has an incredible staff that has helped hundreds of patients, even through COVID-19.

 

During all the agony, loss, and depression Dawn has been facing her friends - staff and patients at Valley Physical Medicine are always on her mind. She has had to borrow money to keep Valley Physical Medicine open and serving Cumberland County. Things have reached a breaking point financially for her and the clinic. If something does not change Dawn will have to close Valley Physical Medicine, declare bankruptcy, hope to fend off the creditors, and survive on the disability money the VA gives her until she is strong enough to work full time again.

 

We need your help!

 

If you or a loved one has been on the receiving end of Dr. Dawn’s healing skill, generous nature, or artistic talent: We Need You.

 

If you care about veterans and helping them be successful after leaving military service: We Need You.

 

If you want Fayetteville to have options other than surgery or addictive pain medication to treat physical pain problems: We Need You.

 

 

 

4 Ways to Help:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Where is the money going:

(No donation is too large or too small!)

 

 

 

 

 

 

With the initial SBA loans, the Bank Loans, and the short-term business loans, Dawn owes over $830,000. It will take a massive outpouring of support to pay off these loans and have the business free of debt, and every dollar paid off will lessen their weight on Dawn.

 

Friends, thank you for reading, sharing and helping. You are deeply appreciated.

 

Sincerely,

 

Dawn and Chris Ruminski