Little Miss Independence: April 2010

As many of you know our dear friend Ruthie Sayles, from Nashville, had very major surgery at Mayo on Tuesday.

RUTHIE'S STORY

On Nov 2 1996 (her daddy's birthday), when she was 17, Ruthie was in a terrible car accident where she pulled out in front of an ambulance. It hit her on her car door going 65mph. Her spleen ruptured, she broke several ribs, her lungs collapsed, and she broke the top 2 vertebrae of her neck (c1 and c2). The ambulance driver saved Ruthie's life. Once she was in the hospital and was off of life support and stable, they took a bone from her hip to fuse to her neck. Back then they used wires in the fusions and now they use titanium screws because the wires have been known to break, and that's what happened in her case.

The wire broke and is piercing Ruthie's spinal cord at c1 which is next to the brain stem. She found out the wire had broken last March 09. She had been dealing with chronic neck and back pain for several years before that. She found out then that if she doesn't have the wire removed, that eventually paralysis will begin in her body. It is a very serious surgery that has never been done before. None of the doctors have ever seen a wire piercing into a spinal cord much less in C1. It's all been so scary! The surgery is very risky and there is a chance that removing the wire will cause paralysis to set in. Sadly, right after she found all of this out, her daddy had a horrible fall while visiting his amish friends and died of brain damage.

After consulting with lots of different doctors Ruthie found 2 surgeons at the Mayo clinic that are going to do the surgery together.

Tyler and I were able to be with her husband and family at the hospital while she was in surgery for nearly 7 hours. We were so encouraged each time the surgery update was good. And when the surgeon called to tell Ruthie's husband that the surgery was finished and it went PERFECTLY, everyone breathed a sigh of relief. There are so many people who have been and are praying for Ruthie. I want to thank all of you who have lifted her up in prayer. I really think that God is working miracles in her body. I am praying that she heals quickly and that the pain she lived with for so many years would be lessened or perhaps even gone. God is so good.

If you feel so led, here are some things you can do if you feel like showing love to our sweet friend Ruthie:

* Follow her blog at http://www.ruthiesayles.blogspot.com and leave comments.

* Bring Ruthie and Will a meal while she is recovering. To sign up for a meal contact Lauren Hitch at laurenhitch@gmail.com. (IF YOU LIVE IN NASHVILLE)

* Ruthie's surgery will cost somewhere between 120-150 thousand dollars and because her insurance is calling this a pre-existing condition they aren't going to cover the surgery, medications, drs visits, etc. So if you feel like giving, you can go to http://www.bsf.net and click the link to the 'Ruthie Lindsey Sayle Medical Fund' on the bottom left side of the page.

Most of all, you can pray everyday for beautiful Ruthie!

Thank you to all of you who have been praying. It is so amazing to know that in addition to all of us who know and love Ruthie praying for her, there are people who don't even know Ruthie who care enough to lift her up in prayer. Thank you, thank you, thank you.