That was the predicament that Kia Bailey found herself in after unsuccessful back surgeries had left her with permanent damage. Only in her 30’s, she dreaded the prospect of a life with unrelenting pain. The precious gift of tissue would give her the hope she needed.
Kia’s back trouble began as a young teenager. Diagnosed in childhood with scoliosis (a severe curvature of the spine), Kia received the standard treatment at that time: a Harrington Rod. This stainless steel device was inserted along her spine when she was just 13 years old. The rod functioned well for the next 15 years, but then began to deteriorate. Two pregnancies exacerbated her condition until she no longer had a choice – surgery was essential.
In April 2004, she underwent a lengthy operation to remove the rod and insert screws into her spine. Immediately after the surgery, she noted that her right leg was numb. Two days later, a CT scan revealed that one of the screws had penetrated her spinal column. She endured another 10-hour surgery to correct the problem, but the nerve damage was permanent, leading to lifelong problems and immobility of her right leg.
To compound her problems, Kia’s body suffered complications from an early childhood cancer. At age five, doctors had discovered a cancerous tumor the size of a grapefruit attached to her right kidney. Two years of chemo and radiation altered her body’s ability to heal normally.
Now in her mid-30s, plagued by unrelenting pain, nerve damage, and a deteriorating spinal column, a new difficulty emerged. Most surgeons she consulted decided that there was nothing more they could do. Kia said, “No one wanted to touch me.” She wondered how she would care for her two sons, Trey and Douglas.
Thanks to a generous donor and a persistent doctor, her prospects improved. Dr. Ajeya Joshi of the San Antonio Orthopaedic Group willingly took on the challenge to alleviate her excruciating pain using tissue transplants. Over a series of eight surgeries, Dr. Joshi carefully removed the broken, misshapen screws and replaced with new pins and tissue grafts. Tissue grafting is a medical procedure in which tissue from a donor replaces missing or damaged tissue on a patient. Bone grafts provide a framework for new bone to fuse together. South Texas Blood & Tissue Center’s Tissue Department works to ensure that processed tissues for transplant are available to physicians in the community
Often, her slow healing process would cause her spine to crumble before the fusion could take place. Patiently, Dr. Joshi repeated the process until her condition improved.
Kia’s last back surgery was in March 2007. Dr. Ajeya Joshi commented, “Some patients have complex spinal conditions requiring demanding, lengthy procedures to correct the spinal condition, to allow that individual to stand straighter and function with less pain.” He adds, “Tissue transplants are vital in spine surgery. They take over normal functions in the body until the body can regenerate its own tissue. These elements cannot come from a non-human source because patients would have potentially severe reactions.”
Since her last surgery, Kia is able to walk upright without a cane or brace. She has exercised and strengthened her right leg and can drive her boys to school activities. Her dependency on pain medication has greatly diminished. “I am so glad for Dr. Joshi. He did not give up on me. And I’m grateful for those individuals who were willing to become donors.”
