When the Wuchner family travelled to Calgary for treatment of their 13-year-old, they got the kind of news no one wants to hear.
Their daughter Amanda's brain aneurysm required some kind of treatment "that may become available in the future," her parents were told following an
unsuccessful surgery attempt: "Just hope this new technology gets here
soon." The drive back to Humboldt in February 2008 was surreal,
Amanda's mom Tanya said.
"That was the longest trip of our life, driving back from Calgary to Humboldt, not knowing what was going to happen. But we came home and . . . tried to live our life as normal
as we could." For two years leading up to that point, Amanda had been
plagued first by headaches -- her worst lasting for 17 days -- and then
by neck and back pain that she said was "way worse" than the headaches.
When a CAT scan was finally performed on her at Royal University
Hospital, it uncovered the aneurysm in her brain, a blood-filled bubble
four centimetres in diameter classified as a "fatal problem" if it
wasn't addressed.
The doctors told her parents they couldn't help her here in Saskatoon -- the location of the aneurysm between Amanda's brain stem and her spine made invasive surgery not advisable.
They sent her to Calgary for an endovascular procedure where coils are
deployed in the aneurysm via a catheter inserted through the patient's
groin and threaded up to the location of the aneurysm. But the coils
didn't do what they were supposed to do -- the doctors didn't know why
-- leading to the bad news delivered to the Wuchners that they had to
wait for future technological breakthroughs.
Luckily for Amanda, the future arrived just a few months later, in the form of Dr. Michael Kelly, a Saskatchewan neurosurgeon who was getting specialized
training at that time at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio.
The Wuchners were put in touch with him and told about the surgery he was training on, a different form of endovascular surgery where a stent is
used instead of the coils.
They travelled down to Cleveland in April 2008 and Kelly operated on Amanda just hours after getting approval from the FDA for the surgery. While friends and family
gathered in a church in Humboldt to pray for the Wuchners, Kelly
successfully blocked off the aneurysm at the clinic in Cleveland.
"All I remember after the surgery is waking up in the ICU and smiling," Amanda said. "I'd just been told the surgery worked." One week later,
testing showed the aneurysm was completely gone.
'Really grateful' Two and a half years later, speaking to about 40 people gathered at an RUH Foundation event Wednesday evening, Amanda said
she's doing everything she did before. She has her driver's licence.
She took first place at the cross-country district meet this fall.
She's editor of her school yearbook.
"I'm just really grateful that Dr. Kelly was there," said Amanda. "And now that he's here in Saskatchewan, it's a lot better (for everyone). I'm just really
grateful he's here." In July 2008, Kelly returned to Saskatoon -- where
he had taken his medical training, at the University of Saskatchewan --
and took up his position of assistant professor of surgery.
Kelly displayed an email from Amanda's mom Tanya that he received following Amanda's surgery, expressing how normal her life was now, and how
thankful they were.
"People ask me why I feel so dedicated about this. This is why," he said, using the laser pointer to indicate the email print-out, up on the screen, and nodding to the Wuchner
family seated in the audience.
Since December 2008, Kelly has performed 413 neuroendovascular procedures at RUH, including 62 surgeries to treat aneurysms. His goal is to establish a "world-class"
program here that will have its own, dedicated room next door to where
the current bi-plane angiography machine is located, which his program
shares with other surgery programs.
Corey Miller, director of medical imaging and nuclear medicine for the Saskatoon Health Region, said it would cost about $4.5 million to convert the next-door room
into another surgical suite.
"We've kind of put our flag in the ground and said this is where we want to go," he said while standing in a large room that used to be filled with X-ray film. The conversion to
digital images means a large filing room is freed up at RUH every year.
Leading-edge work Planning for an expanded program is still in the very early stages, so the RUH Foundation is only working "quietly" on raising awareness of Kelly's team's work, said RUH Foundation CEO
Arla Gustafson. The foundation holds Donor Grand Rounds a few times a
year for donors to get a glimpse behind the scenes.
"The intent is to create awareness of the work being done at the leading-edge, that physicians and other staff do every day," said Gustafson.
As Kelly said: "The future is here, now, in Saskatchewan." At the end of his presentation, Kelly referred to ongoing research regarding the
relation of vascular issues to multiple sclerosis. If narrowed veins
prove to be related to MS, that bi-plane angiography machine and its
hoped-for sister at RUH would be "critical" to the work.
The Saskatchewan government has pledged $5 million for clinical trials of the "liberation treatment" first proposed one year ago by Italian
vascular surgeon Dr. Paolo Zamboni that widens the narrowed veins. The
funding is being co-ordinated through the Saskatchewan Health Research
Foundation, which is expected to put out a call for proposals within the next month.
hscissons@thestarphoenix.com
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