A Midnight Journey from the Ocean to the Hospital

Figure 1: Discs bulging on C5-6 and C6-7.

JM, a 35-year old male, was body surfing on Carbon Beach in the middle of the night when a wave unexpectedly hit him. He suddenly couldn’t feel or move his right arm, and for a brief moment, JM lost consciousness. Alone at 2 am, JM was rescued from the ocean by 2 young girls who heard his cry for help and immediately got him to safety.

Immediately, he was rushed to the hospital where he met Dr. Vokshoor. JM described the severe aching, burning pain in his neck that radiated to both of his arms. After reviewing his MRI (pictured in Figure 1), conducting a physical exam and thoroughly listening to JM’s symptoms, Dr. Vokshoor noted severe cord compression due to the C56 C567 disc herniations and discussed the urgency of surgery as the best treatment to alleviate his pain. 

Figure 2: Titanium spacers at C5-6 and C6-7

Having moved from Michigan only about a year ago, JM was still trying to adjust to his life in LA when this unexpected incident took place. Needing to go through surgery at this moment in time, when he was barely settled in this unfamiliar city, was baffling to him. To add to this stress of going through surgery, JM was also worried about its costs. He was covered by Medi-cal, a public insurance that provides services to low-income individuals which does not always cover every healthcare provider. JM could not afford to pay for this surgery himself, regardless of the burning pain he was in.

This didn’t stop Dr. Vokshoor from treating a patient who needed his help. INI jumped into action again! INI was able to gather an expert operative team to perform the surgery– a C5-6 C6-7 anterior cervical discectomy and fusion– at no cost to JM. Dr. Vokshoor was able to salvage and preserve the integrity of his cervical spine as he inserted two titanium spacers and fixated the plates to the vertebral bodies with screws as pictured in Figure 2. 

Now, following a successful surgery, INI is continuing to follow JM’s recovery and helping him navigate his post-operative care with imaging and physical therapy resources. We are hoping JM a quick recovery!