Success Stories

Donald Foley

Donald Foley wondered why he felt occasional tingling in his arms. He also worried about why he had balance problems, forcing him to grab a corner of a desk as he passed, and why he increasingly was dropping things.

“I would drop a screwdriver at work,” he says. “I would drop the pieces when I was building a model at home. It was maddening.”

In October 2009, he made an appointment at Spine & Scoliosis Specialists. S. Michael Tooke, MD, FRCSC, soon delivered a frightening diagnosis: spinal cord compression. Bone spurs in his neck were compressing Donald’s spinal cord.

“His prognosis at age 50 was that eventually he was going to have neurologic deterioration, bowel and bladder problems, and become quadriplegic unless he had surgery,” Dr. Tooke says. “No one can tell you how long that would take for certain, but I think you could certainly predict it within a five- or ten-year span.”

After getting a second opinion, which confirmed the diagnosis, Donald proceeded with surgery in January 2010.

“I didn’t want to end up incapacitated in any way,” he says.

Dr. Tooke removed three discs, bone spurs and a vertebra, then performed a cervical fusion between C3 and C7.

Within three weeks, Donald was back at work on light duty. Soon afterward, he returned to his hobby: building intricate Star Trek models. No longer does he feel tingling, experience balance problems or drop the tiny parts of his models.

“My recovery” he says, “was miraculous.”

Rick Chaney (aka Jots the clown)

Rick Chaney loves to perform as Jots the clown, putting smiles on the faces of kids and adults alike.  Those who watch him juggle, walk on stilts or balance a cane on his chin would never guess that only a few years ago, Rick was in excruciating pain, barely able to move his neck. Or that, a few years before that, Rick was incapacitated by a back problem.

In both cases, Rick credits Max W. Cohen, MD, FAAOS, with putting a smile back on his face – and restoring his mobility. In 2005, Dr. Cohen performed one of the first minimally invasive posterior lumbar fusions in the U.S. on Rick from L4-L5. And in 2008, when Rick was in excruciating pain from a neck injury, Dr. Cohen performed an anterior cervical discectomy fusion from C4 to C6.

 “If Dr. Cohen hadn’t done my surgery, I’d probably be lying in bed on disability,” says Rick. “He’s basically given my life back to me in both instances.”

Rick’s wife, Monica, who performs with him as SonShyne in their company Circus Daze, looks on in awe when he balances a cane on his chin.

“Every time I see him do that,” Monica says, “I remember when he couldn’t even move his neck at all.”

Marsha Ferguson

Marsha Ferguson spent years looking at the floor. Literally.

A series of disc problems and 17 spine surgeries had left her permanently stooped over and in terrible pain. She had little hope left when her pain management doctor recommended she see a surgeon, S. Michael Tooke, MD, FRCSC, of Spine & Scoliosis Specialists.

Dr. Tooke, who has extensive experience treating failed back surgery syndrome, found she had a fusion that had not healed, untreated scoliosis, and flat back syndrome as a result of her many fusion surgeries. He performed revision surgery, first removing all of the existing hardware from Marsha’s spine. He then performed a pedicle subtraction osteotomy and re-fused her spine, straightening her nearly 50 degrees.

Today, Marsha cares for the horses on her family farm from a new vantage point.

“I never in my wildest dreams thought I would be able to stand up straight again,” she says. “It has changed my life.”

Faye Bunker

Faye Bunker was in her late 50s when she started having lower back pain. Over the next decade, she tried numerous treatments, but none helped. So she lived with the pain – diagnosed as degenerative disc disease – while she dealt with other health issues, including knee and neck problems that required surgery.

Then, in 2009, her back pain grew so bad that she had to give up playing the organ at church – something she had done for more than 40 years. 

“I really couldn’t do anything without pain,” she says. “I couldn’t walk without a cane. I couldn’t even do my housework. I didn’t do anything except sit around and watch TV.”

She decided it was time for surgery. Max W. Cohen, MD, FAAOS, the founding physician of Spine & Scoliosis Specialists, performed a lumbar spinal fusion in June 2009.

Today, the woman who couldn’t move without pain goes to exercise class three times a week, does housework and is back playing the organ three times a week at church.

“I’m totally pain-free for the first time in 10 years,” she says. “I can go and do things now. And I can play with the great-grandkids, which is my biggest joy. What Dr. Cohen did for me has totally changed my life.”

Joyce Cantrell

Six years ago, Joyce Cantrell couldn’t get around without a cane or, occasionally, a walker. The surgeon she saw said she had degenerative disc disease with arthritis, but advised against an operation. She cut back to part-time work and finally had to quit the teaching job she loved. She lived in constant pain.

Then she was referred to Max Cohen, MD, FAAOS, the only Triad physician with double fellowship training in spine and scoliosis treatment. Dr. Cohen, the founder of Spine & Scoliosis Specialists, found the root of her problem – undiagnosed adult scoliosis, which had curved her spine into an S. Using innovative, state-of-the-art techniques, he straightened her spine and performed spinal fusion surgery.

Today, Joyce is pain-free. She enjoys water aerobics, exercises on a treadmill and walks twice a week with her husband.

“To be out of pain is just fantastic,” she says. “I tell everyone Dr. Cohen is a miracle worker.”

Ben Moore

In July 2010, 16-year-old Ben Moore pitched the winning 9-3 game that propelled his Junior American Legion baseball team into Virginia’s state championship game.

For Ben, it wasn’t just a big athletic win but a personal victory as well – a triumph over stabbing back pain that had plagued him for years. His life turned around after his mother took him to see Max W. Cohen, MD, FAAOS, founding physician of Spine & Scoliosis Specialists in Greensboro.

Dr. Cohen diagnosed a common adolescent problem: isthmic spondylolisthesis. After surgery to correct the problem, Ben returned to the sport he loves.

“Now I don’t have any pain,” says Ben, who lives in the Bassett, VA area, about 60 miles north of Greensboro. “I can just play baseball.”

His mom, Michelle, who also had surgery performed on her back by Dr. Cohen, is happy to be in the stands again, cheering for her son.

“Dr. Cohen gave Ben his life back,” she says.

Michelle Moore

Michelle Moore is thankful for small things. She can climb in and out of the car. She can now walk from the car to a store. And maybe the biggest small thing: She can lie down on a bed – and get up again.

“I imagine that doesn’t sound like much to some people, but to me, it is wonderful,” she says. “To not be able to lie down in a bed, to have to sleep in a chair every time you traveled somewhere – it was awful.”

Michelle was diagnosed in 2007 with degenerative spondylolisthesis by Max W. Cohen, MD, FAAOS, founding physician of Spine & Scoliosis Specialists. After first trying nonsurgical alternatives, he performed a spinal fusion on her from L4 to L5 in 2010. Seven months after surgery, Michelle is still in the expected one-year recovery period.

“The surgery helped so much with my pain,” she says. “I am able to do some things I couldn’t do before, although I still have lots of limitations I have to respect.”

Michelle's son, Ben, also had surgery by Dr. Cohen for another kind of spondylolistesis - isthmic. Read his story here.

Read Dr. Cohen's discussion of the Moores' surgery and the differences between their disorders - isthmic and degenerative spondylolisthesis - here.

Stephanie Demetrelis

Stephanie Demetrelis is happy to be able to walk in the park, run on a treadmill, wash dishes at the sink, sit in class and work on a computer – all things most people take for granted.

As a teenager, Stephanie couldn’t do any of those tasks for long without pain.

“Pretty much anything I did, it hurt,” she says. “I couldn’t study or sit at a computer for long. When I was studying, I would have to stop and lie down. I would have to take breaks, because I hurt so bad. I couldn’t run at all.”

Stephanie’s problem? Idiopathic adolescent scoliosis. In 2009, Max W. Cohen, MD, FAAOS, of Spine & Scoliosis Specialists performed surgery to correct the double curve that was causing her pain. Stephanie has no question the surgery was worthwhile.

“I would do it again in a second,” she says. “Now I can do what I want and not have to worry about being in pain all the time.”