A Vietnam War era veteran, Louie Davis, Leesburg, recently received much-needed surgery to help restore his mobility.
Davis, the recipient of two Purple Hearts during that war, was wounded in the hand and had his legs severely damaged by shrapnel from a land mine in 1971.
Davis has struggled with his wounds over the years, but it was since March that his health started to take a downturn. As a direct result of his war wounds, the nerves in legs were not functioning and his mobility gradually diminished.
In August, Davis was told it would take two months before he could even be seen by a doctor.
"They thought it was my back, but it was really my legs where I got my war wounds," he said. "I was told I was going to need what is called a spinal stimulator and that it was going to cost something like $140,000."
Initially, the procedure to implant the spinal stimulator was to be done at Goshen Hospital this month, at a reduced cost. If he could wait until February, the Veterans Administration could schedule the procedure. That wasn't an option because of his continual loss of mobility.
The Davis family contacted Senator Richard Lugar's office for help in dealing with the V.A., and to try and move the procedure closer to Thanksgiving.
"They couldn't guarantee me that, either," Davis said. "They said it might take longer. But I couldn't wait - I couldn't walk."
Right before Thanksgiving, Davis was contacted by the Unity Medical Surgical Hospital in Mishawaka. After seeing news coverage about his condition and the slow pace of the V.A., the doctors and staff at Unity Medical offered to perform the needed surgery for free.
Dr. Ajit Pai, MD, who practices pain medicine and anesthesiology in Mishawaka, was lead surgeon, and Medtronics donated the spinal stimulator unit.
"When they told me they would do the surgery for free, I said, 'You can't mean it,'" Davis said. "I just won the lottery. Nobody gives away $100,000. They said that if Medtronics will donate the simulator, the hospital and doctors will donate their time. They want to do this for a veteran."
The surgery was done as an out-patient procedure Friday, the day after Thanksgiving.
"I went in the morning about 7:30, and left in the afternoon," Davis said. "The operation only took about two hours."
Davis has a temporary stimulator, where the wires that carry electrical impulses to nerves are exposed. This is a "trial run" to see if the device will alleviate at least 50 percent of pain. The permanent spinal stimulator will be implanted by the end of this week. The stimulator unit should last for eight to nine years before needing replacement.
"It's doing more than 50 percent right now," Davis said. "I couldn't walk before, but now I'm walking around the house with a cane and a walker. It's just going to get better."
Davis will be on pain medication for a while and will also need to begin physical therapy to get his muscles back in shape. What's improved the most, though, is probably his outlook.
"I have to thank everyone a lot," he said. "There's really hundreds of people I need to thank. I'm ready to walk ... and I'm ready to do my farming again."
