Practice News

On Monday April 9, 2012, ABC-TV’s Good Morning America featured a story on migraine headache relief with specialized surgery. This treatment, including Botox and possible surgery for migraine sufferers, is offered by Dr. Matthew Kaufman of The Institute for Advanced Reconstruction, which is among the handful of practices offering specialized procedures in the New Jersey/New York regional area for qualified candidates.

Read all about it, and see our video, on the practice website, http://www.advancedreconstruction.com/migraine-headaches/.

“I refuse to let this diagnosis define who I am. What will define me is what I do in the future.”

That’s what 29-year-old Kevin Neary told the Philadelphia Inquirer in a March 26^th article. But it has been an incredibly hard journey to reach that remarkable conclusion. After being shot in a robbery last November nearby his residence in Philadelphia, Neary remains completely paralyzed. Since then, his journey has gone from desperation and darkness, to hope and determination.

On March 27^th, Neary underwent surgery with Dr. Matthew Kaufman of The Institute for Advanced Reconstruction and the Center for the Treatment of Paralysis at Jersey Shore Medical Center, in an effort to salvage Neary’s phrenic nerve and install a pacemaker to hopefully make his diaphragm work.

The phrenic nerve controls function of the diaphragm muscle – the primary muscle involved in breathing. Contraction of the diaphragm muscle permits expansion of the chest cavity and inhalation of air into the lungs.

The Inquirer legitimately characterized this difficult procedure as having only a “moderate” chance of success. Then again, Dr. Kaufman’s phrenic nerve patients, who come from around the country and the world, hear that kind of discouraging news from other doctors all the time. That’s why they seek him out.

Fate dealt Kevin Neary a devastating blow, but fate also landed him in the hands of Dr. Kaufman, who is the only known surgeon to perform nerve transplantation to reverse phrenic nerve damage.

“Kevin’s procedure went much better than anticipated.  We went into the surgery anticipating severe nerve damage and were elated when both phrenic nerves responded to external stimulation.  The prospect of him successfully weaning from the ventilator is excellent.  We will be initiating this process in two weeks and are hopeful that he will be breathing independently in the weeks and months to come.” – Dr. Kaufman

In the Inquirer article, Neary concluded, “If I can get off the ventilator for six hours, that’s a work day, or enough time to enjoy a Phillies game,” Neary said. “Work is a big part of who I am. It’s work and baseball for me.”

At the hands of Dr. Matthew Kaufman, Neary may, in fact, see the World Series hopeful Phillies repeat their 2008 title.

Neary underwent surgery with Dr. Matthew Kaufman of The Institute for Advanced Reconstruction and the Center for the Treatment of Paralysis at Jersey Shore Medical Center, in an effort to salvage Neary’s phrenic nerve

On Sunday, March 25th, The Panther Valley Breaker Boys of the Greater Eastern Football Association, will host a benefit for Rob Marerro. Marerro, who was paralyzed last year in a semi-pro football game, will  be undergoing surgery with Dr. Matthew Kaufman of the Institute for Advanced Reconstruction.

Paralyzed Football Player to Undergo Phrenic Nerve Surgery with Dr. Matthew Kaufman

(Lansford, PA–March 1, 2012) Carrie Marrero, Robert Marrero’s wife, says her husband “always loved football.” And she did too. Rob was expressing that love playing in a semi-pro game in Pennsylvania when the unthinkable happened. He took a hit that would forever change his life, and the life of his family.

Carrie, the mother of the couple’s two children, a boy age 11 and a girl age 2, explains: I was sitting in the car with the kids to avoid the rain. One of Rob’s teammates tapped on my window. “Rob is down and he’s asking for you. He can’t feel his legs.”

Initially, Carrie, who knows her football from growing up watching the sport, says, “I thought it was just a stinger, common in football; you get hit and go numb for a few minutes. Rob had that before.” This time, she knew it was different, “I could tell by the look on his face.”

Still, she held out hope, until she made it to the hospital where Rob was in the ICU. That’s when she was told her husband had a broken neck in three places, and that he was paralyzed from the neck down.

That was on May 7, 2011, and since that day, “There is nothing about life that hasn’t changed,” she summarizes.

According to the Spinal Cord Injury Information Pages, approximately 11,000 new spinal cord injuries occur each year, and 52 percent of them are considered paraplegic, like Rob. Among the 250,000 Americans with spinal cord injuries, 82 percent of them are male, and the average age of a spinal cord injured person is 31. That’s exactly Rob Marrero’s age.

It was an event in the ICU that eventually led Carrie to find Dr. Matthew Kaufman of The Institute for Advanced Reconstruction. The medical staff was adamantly trying to get Rob to cough, to keep his lungs clear. They told him if he couldn’t cough, they would have to put him on a ventilator and that if they did, “we don’t know if we can get you off.” Unfortunately, his attempts were not sufficient.

It was during rehabilitation in Philadelphia that Rob’s phrenic nerve was tested, and the results were not good. “Our hearts were broken,” says Carrie, who cried yet another river of tears. As in so many cases with Dr. Kaufman’s patients, the Marrero’s were told there was nothing that could be done.

Says Carrie, “Because I love my husband terribly and didn’t accept that diagnosis, if there was anything that could be done, I was going to find it. I researched my butt off.”

Nine months after his accident, on March 16th, Dr. Kaufman will operate on Rob phrenic nerve at the Center for Treatment of Paralysis & Reconstructive Nerve Surgery at the Jersey Shore University Medical Center, with the goal to make him eventually breathe independently of the respirator.

The couple, from Lansford, Pennsylvania, met 13 years ago. Rob, who had grown up in foster care, and Carrie, who has only her mother living nearby, are pretty much on their own. They have gotten minimal help, but are grateful to Rob’s employer prior to the accident, Gordon Food Service in Pottsville, PA, who moved them into a new, one floor home in only two hours.

Carrie, Rob’s full-time caretaker, was well-trained by the rehab facility, and is a diligent researcher. “I wanted to learn everything I could,” she says.

But how does a parent ever learn how to make a son, who is struggling with the feeling his dad has been taken from him, understand the kind of thing that has happened to his father?

The Institute for Advanced Reconstruction’s New Jersey reconstructive surgeon Dr. Andrew Elkwood was featured on a recent episode of daytime television talk show “The Doctors”.  In his appearance, Dr. Elkwood spoke about his revolutionary BARS hernia treatment.  If you missed Dr. Elkwood’s segment on “The Doctors”, visit their site and view the “Complacency and Hernia” segment from their recent video library!