We introduced you to many amazing people through Life feature stories in 2009. Here’s a look back at a few of those stories, along with their updates.
We’d also like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who shared their stories with Echo Press readers this past year. Every story is important, and by sharing it you have touched the lives of countless others.
One day at a time
March 11
In March, we introduced you to Stephanie Anderson of Evansville. Anderson suffers from chiari malformation, a rare neurological disorder in which brain tissue protrudes into her spinal column.
At the time of the story, Anderson had gone through three brain surgeries, none of which had been successful in eliminating the severe head and neck pain caused by the disorder.
After the story ran, Anderson worked with a pain physician and had a series of steroid shots. The steroids helped but because of the larger doses required to control the pain, she acquired Cushing’s syndrome, a reaction to the drug that caused her to gain 40 pounds. She has not been able to lose the weight because of the pain involved with exercise.
Doctors also tried implanting a neurostimulator into Anderson’s spinal column, which was not successful. Eventually, with no other methods of decreasing the pain, Anderson had to resort to narcotic pain medicines.
In the meantime, a co-worker of her husband, Mitch, informed them of a high vitamin concentrate formulated by two doctors from Minnesota. At the point where she was “open to anything that would help,” she started taking it. Since then, she has cut back on half of all the medication she is taking and hopes to cut it back even more.
“I’ve heard from many people that I am getting back to my old self,” she said. “It’s not a lot, but hopefully it will help.”
No comments:
Post a Comment