Myrtle Beach man afraid he'd never walk again gets life-changing spine surgery

Kenneth and Sheila Apsley had a vision for their retirement years. They’d move to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, where the mild winters were nothing like the ones they had in New Jersey. And they’d enjoy themselves.

But by the time they got there, Kenneth was in no condition for strolling on the beach. “I couldn’t walk,” the former business owner and volunteer firefighter said.

The trouble started years earlier with neck and back pain that grew severe. “I got X-rays, and they found I had issues with my spine,” Kenneth said.

 

Two operations later, Kenneth was still struggling. So he went to a Myrtle Beach hospital for yet another medical procedure. Then, his wife said, they got some advice that changed everything. “The neurosurgeon there, after he did some MRIs of his neck, said, ‘You need a total spinal reconstruction, and you need to go to MUSC.’”

There, they connected with Jamie Wilson, M.D., who specializes in complex spine surgery at the MUSC Health Spine Center. “He came to see me, and his neck looked absolutely terrible. Basically, his neck and the alignment of his vertebrae were falling forward,” Wilson said.

“Where they'd done the previous surgery had not healed properly. And because his bones were falling forward, his spinal cord was very compressed. He couldn't hold his head up.”

Wilson, an assistant professor of Neurosurgery at the Medical University of South Carolina, knew his team could help. Kenneth was suffering from cervical myelopathy, something Wilson is very familiar with.  

“It’s the most common reason why I do spine surgery,” he said. “People need to see a doctor as soon as they start to show signs of it.”

 

Cervical myelopathy is a neurological condition that causes compression of the spinal cord. It can lead to trouble with balance and walking. It can also cause dexterity problems, tingling and numbness in arms and legs, arm pain and other problems. The cause of cervical myelopathy is degenerative changes and arthritis in the cervical spine. This leads to progressive compression of the spinal cord and a potentially devastating neurological disability or quadriparesis (muscle weakness in the arms and legs).

Wilson and his colleagues had their work cut out for them. “We had to do a very drastic surgery, going in from the front and removing the previous hardware and a lot of the bone anteriorly.”

Wilson worked with head and neck surgeon Michael Bobian, M.D., on the initial part of the operation. “This is the third time for surgery on Kenneth’s neck. So it's a good point of collaboration between Dr. Bobian and me. He was able to do a very difficult procedure, exposing the spine and getting through the large amount of scarring.”

Then, it was time for the next steps. “We put a big cage in to expand things to realign his spine,” Wilson said. A “cage” in spinal surgery, usually made of metal or polymer, creates space between vertebrae. It contains material to promote bone growth and becomes part of the spine. 

“And then we did a surgery in the back to lock it all into place and take the bone away to remove the pressure around the spinal cord,” Wilson said.

It was a delicate process. “If you make a mistake, the patient can be paralyzed almost instantly. You have to have a lot of training to be able to deliver these kind of surgeries. So it's not something that just any neurosurgeon can do. You have to be a complex spine-trained neurosurgeon to be able to perform these types of procedures.” 

Kenneth’s procedure was a success. He’s up and around again. “We’re in a gated community, so I walk out to the gate and rest and then come back. And I've been doing really, really well.”

 

Wilson is thrilled to hear it. “It's a very tangible thing to be able to manipulate somebody's spine into the correct orientation and to cure their pain and disability. And you know, I always tell people, ‘Look, I'm not in the quantity of life business, but I'm in the quality of life business.’ And I like being in the quality of life business because I like the reward that it gives me.”

He's also encouraging other people with spine issues to seek help, regardless of age. “A lot of people get told they’re too old for spine surgery or they shouldn't have spine surgery. And my work is in frailty and frailty assessment. And what we're seeing is that it doesn't really matter how old you are. It's how frail you are. If you are robust, but you’re 80 years old, you can still get through a fairly complex surgery and still come out well.”

Wilson said the right techniques, including minimally invasive procedures, navigation and robotics, are important as well. “I make sure I use AI in planning a lot of my complex surgeries. I use custom-built hardware, custom-built rods, a lot of things that community providers don't have access to that I've made a foundation of my practice.”

Kenneth is now able to do things that once seemed impossible. “I spent the weekend with my two grandkids, and it was so great. The fact that I was able to roll around on floor with them and play with them – I was just so happy. I actually have tears in my eyes right now,” he said during an interview.

Wilson said Kenneth deserves some of the credit. “The fact that he's done so well is a testament to having good surgery but also his enthusiasm and drive to do rehab and make sure that he can achieve his goals.”

Kenneth plans to keep pursuing his goals as he enjoys retirement with his wife and family. 

“I see a future in the fact that I'm going to be able to walk again and have hopefully a normal life again, you know?”