The Journey

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"After completing my OB/GYN residency, I was stationed at K.I. Sawyer Air Force Base from 1983 to 1986 as an OB/GYN physician. My goal was to receive additional training as a flight surgeon so I could fly, but unfortunately, I could not obtain a waiver due to a prior back surgery.

This photo was required for my promotion from Captain to Major, circa 1985."

My scoliosis was likely the result of intense, unsupervised weight training during my teenage years as part of my athletic pursuits. The condition was discovered incidentally at age 18 during a mandatory back X-ray for a summer job with Norfolk & Western. As a late bloomer, my bones hadn’t fully matured and were still growing well into my late teens. Throughout grade school and high school, I often struggled to keep up with my peers athletically, not fully understanding why they consistently outperformed me.

By my first year of residency, I began experiencing significant back pain. After completing my internship, I underwent my first spinal fusion—from T4 to L4—in July 1980 in Denver, Colorado, performed by Dr. Jack Odom. Since then, I’ve had approximately 20 spinal surgeries—three or four of them major, with the rest being minor procedures.

The image above shows pre-op and post-op X-rays from my most recent major surgery, performed on January 10, 2018, at Columbia Hospital in New York City by Dr. Lawrence Lenke, one of the world’s leading spinal surgeons. Dr. Lenke had previously operated on me in early 2007 at Barnes-Jewish Hospital/Washington University in St. Louis. That earlier procedure was a complete spinal reconstruction—a 14-hour operation that extended my fusion from T2 all the way to the sacrum.

I began physical therapy soon after my 14-hour spinal reconstructive surgery, performed by Dr. Lawrence Lenke in St. Louis in February 2007. The procedure extended my original fusion—from T4-L4—to a full spinal fusion from T2 down to the sacrum, and much of the hardware implanted in 1980 was removed.

The surgery was extraordinarily painful, and the recovery was long and difficult—but by the grace of God, I made it through and bounced back.

This photo, taken around 2005, shows me water skiing in Escambia Bay near Pensacola behind the boat of a dear friend and colleague. I’ve always had a passion for both water and snow skiing, and I continued to pursue these activities even after my 12-segment spinal fusion in 1980.

In hindsight, skiing probably wasn’t the wisest choice given my spinal history—but the thrill was simply too incredible to give up. This may have been my first time back on water skis since my original surgery, and I popped up on one ski like I was 16 again.

After my major spinal reconstruction in 2007, I also managed a few snow skiing trips to Beaver Creek and Steamboat Springs, Colorado. For me, there’s nothing more beautiful—or more inspiring—than standing atop a mountain with skis on my feet.

Maggie and Dylan