Chiari patient doing better after surgery and hopes to help others with the affliction
By STEVE PENN
The Kansas City Star
She has a six-inch scar on her back. But she can feel her feet again.
She doesn’t have the constant headaches she once had. And she can complete her thoughts, especially the ones placed on paper.
And there’s one more recent development regarding Deann Appier-Haug.
Officials at CBS read my column on her condition and surgery. The network is considering featuring the surgical procedure she underwent on a new TV series that’s under the wing of “Dr. Phil” and set to premiere this fall.
Appier-Haug, once the wife of Kevin Appier, the former Kansas City Royals pitching ace, is married to businessman Chad Haug. The couple lives in Parkville.
Appier-Haug underwent major surgery last month at the Chiari Institute of the North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System in New York. She suffers from Chiari malformation, a condition that causes the lower part of the brain, the cerebellum, to protrude from the skull and into the spinal canal.
Surgeons focused their efforts on her upper spine, where they successfully cut a cord that was too tight and the apparent cause of her Chiari malformation.
Appier-Haug is back at her Parkville home, where she continues to recover. The surgery seems to have been quite successful.
“I’m feeling really well,” Appier-Haug said earlier this week. “I can speak. That’s the number one thing. In fact, people haven’t been able to shut me up. I can feel my feet again, my legs and my arms and hands.”
Appier-Haug described how doctors saw her spine reposition itself after they severed the cord.
“It was pulling down so tight on my spinal cord and my transverse tonsils that it was giving me so many problems,” she said.
Earlier this week, I also spoke with Paolo Bolognese, the director of the Chiari Institute, who was quite pleased with the results.
“She did everything she was supposed to do post-operatively, and she braved the pain,” Bolognese said.
Appier-Haug probably will need to return to New York for one more procedure. While the first surgery repaired the problems she was having from the belly-button down, she still has issues with her neck and skull.
“It’s very likely that she’s going to need a second one,” Bolognese said. “Ideally, we would like it to be done between two to six months after the first surgery.”
Despite what Appier-Haug has gone through, she’s maintained a positive attitude.
“She’s a wonderful patient,” Bolognese said. “She has a very good disposition. Her secret is that she does everything with a lot of determination. She’s very graceful.”
Before her surgery, Appier-Haug told me she wanted to become the face of Chiari and do her part to make the public more aware of the malady. She very well may get her wish.
Producers for a new TV show called “The Doctors” are considering highlighting her surgery. Officials with CBS have been in discussions with Appier-Haug and the Chiari Institute.
Meanwhile, Appier-Haug may be able to resume her active sports routine someday. A local chiropractor will fit her with a special neck brace soon.
She thinks she now knows her purpose in life. She was put here to spread the word about Chiari. And to do that, she’s willing and ready to discuss details of what she’s been through with everyone from those suffering with the same malady to the host of a network TV show.
And if just one person realizes from her story that he or she too suffers from the condition and can get treatment to fix it, the pain, the exposure and the recovery will all have been worth it.
To reach Steve Penn, call 816-234-4417 or send e-mail to spenn@kcstar.com.
Join the discussion
Share your observations and experiences about news. Lively, open debate is the goal, but please refrain from personal attacks or comments that are racist, vulgar or otherwise inappropriate. If you see an inappropriate comment, please click the "Report as violation" link to notify a KansasCity.com editor. Thanks for your feedback.