CHoR’s April calendar kid: Madeline
A debilitating, but unknown injury
A competitive soccer player, and overall active teen, then 13-year-old Madeline began experiencing excruciating pain around Halloween 2021. Her parents took her to the doctor, assuming it was a sports-related injury. Madeline was diagnosed with a hamstring strain and began a series of conservative treatments.
Rather than getting better, Madeline’s pain increased to the point that she couldn’t walk. Mother’s intuition prompted her mom, Dana, to push for an MRI. That’s when it was discovered that Madeline had a massive L5-S1 herniated disc. The disc was compressing her nerve root which explained the pain down her leg.
A family friend recommended that the Saufleys come to Children’s Hospital of Richmond at VCU and see neurosurgeon, Dr. Gary Tye. “I saw Madeline in clinic and she was miserable. She needed relief and she wasn’t getting it through the more conservative approaches, so I added her to my surgery schedule for the next day,” said Dr. Tye.