Giving Back Matters

My Life
Geneva resident Anna Harmon long struggled with the
challenge of chronic back pain. “Even though I am
active and athletic, I have always had back issues,” she says,
recalling a back surgery years ago to address the problem.
Because she was familiar with her pain, she knew this time
was different when it suddenly worsened last fall.
At her initial appointment with Dr. Michael Fremgen, her
family physician and a physician on staff at Delnor, Anna
indicated that she was expecting the worst. “I told him I felt
I needed an MRI and I that needed surgery,” she says. “I know
my body and I knew that this time things were not good.”
What she didn’t know at the time was how much worse her
condition would get before it got better. Tests showed that
Anna had severely ruptured several discs in her back. She
met with her doctors, Delnor orthopedic surgeon Dr. Craig
Popp, M.D. and Delnor neurosurgeon Dr. John Brayton,
M.D. to discuss surgical options.
Anna’s back couldn’t wait for the surgery to be scheduled.
The evening after her diagnosis, in tremendous pain and
barely able to walk, she got up in the night and collapsed.
“I told my husband that I was beginning to be paralyzed,
and to call an ambulance,” says Anna. Little did she know
at the time, but her original medical assessment was uncannily
correct. Once she got to Delnor and her pain was managed,
Anna and the medical team realized that she was continuing
to lose sensation in one of her legs.
Anna’s medical team feared they would have to do exploratory
surgery to reveal the cause until another MRI solved the puzzle.
“They discovered that my spine had collapsed slightly due to
a stress fracture we hadn’t known anything about,” says Anna.
“Because of that fracture, my spine was severely compressing
my sciatic nerve. Without surgery, we couldn’t be sure if it was
severed or not, or if I would ever be able to walk again.”
Anna, who was just 38, says that she has never been so
afraid in her life. It was that fear, coupled with an intense
trust, that she says prompted her to ask Delnor to wait for
her two surgeons Dr. Popp and Dr. Brayton — the only ones
she wanted to perform the critical surgery that would decide
the fate of her leg. “I asked them, ‘can I have you both?’”
Dr. John Brayton, Anna Harmon and Dr. Craig Popp
The physicians agreed to come to the hospital right away and
conduct the surgery together. “At that point I didn’t even know
if insurance would cover that. I was more afraid of what they
would find, but I trusted them to handle that,” says Anna.
The physician team removed the herniated section of Anna’s
spine but did not fuse it together. “They thought I would have
had a lot of arthritis as a result,” she says. “I may still need to
have that surgery in the future but they gave me a chance
to potentially avoid it.”
Most importantly, the surgeons found that her sciatic nerve was
not severed, only cut — which saved Anna the use of her leg.
She remained in a hospital bed in her home until January, was
using a walker by February, and was driving on her own
in March. In August of this year, she began her exercise regime
once again. “It has been long and difficult, and my life has
been forever changed,” she says. “I am still in therapy and do
have a drop foot and wear a brace, but I am very encouraged
that my leg will continue to come back.”
That is good news for this active mom of three small children
with a busy career. “My life came to a shattering halt, but I
have learned that everything happens for a reason,” says
Anna. “I have a new perspective.”
Part of that is a renewed respect for the medical care available
right in her own backyard. “My physicians literally saved my
leg and Delnor was instrumental in returning its function,”
says Anna.
She remembers nights her husband stayed at her side past
visiting hours because of an accommodating nursing staff,
and the special case nurse that Delnor assigned to check in
on her at home. “I couldn’t have gotten better care anywhere,
even at a bigger hospital downtown.”
In gratitude for that care and for the second chance at the
active life she once took for granted, Anna recently made
a gift to the Delnor Foundation in honor of physicians Popp
and Brayton. “I want them to know how much I appreciate
all they did,” says Anna. “With their care, and with that of
the Delnor team, I made it through to the other side.”