United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

Hi,
I just found this board, thank goodness. Might have saved myself weeks of depression if I'd found it sooner, but I have to thank Dr. Eric Heiden (the great Olympian) for putting me onto the Mayo Clinic where I found John Floyd's story.

Our son Eric's is almost identical. Eric is the 2006 Junior Canadian Track and ITT Champiion and was hurt racing at the Jr. World Championships in August. Hoped to go to the Olympics.

Eric does have some use of his hand but no arm or shoulder; the NS says c-5 distribution is completely kaput. We are in Canada, and there are really no options for us here other than the one that will be offered by the one surgeon in our city who does peripheral nerve surgery. He is supposed to be one of the best in the world, but we aren't sure when he will get to us.

So in the meantime I'm trying to find the BEST surgeon(s) in the US. Dr. Heiden gave us the name of Allan Bishop at Mayo and Szabo at UC Davis. On my own I found 2 other names: Allan Belzberg at Johns Hopkins and Aaron Filler in Santa Monica.

Any input on those or others or hope for the future welcome.

Hope Smith

Hi Hope.

I just sent you an email but wanted to add another name that is highly regarded in the US: Drs Kline & Tiel, of New Orleans. They had to relocate to another location after Hurricane Katrina but shouldn't be hard to find - and by now might be back at LSU. Dr. Kline (literally) wrote the book on bpi that was used for medical students for many years. Dr. Tiel is his protege (sp?). Dr. Spinner of the Rochester Mayo team also studied under Dr Kline for a number of months so is familiar with his techniques.

I'm interested to see if anyone has experience with Dr. Szabo or Dr. Miller - I'm not familiar with them.

You will quickly find on these boards that you are not alone. Continue to ask questions -

Take care,

Ellen

We also saw Drs Spinner, Bishop and Shin at Mayo. They are an excellent team. Have also heard many good things about Dr Nath on these boards, but we haven't seen him. Think he is in Texas and has other clinics through the US. Welcome to the boards, you will find lots of good info here, I know we did.
Sue

My daughter had surgery by Spinner, Bishop and Shin at Mayo. They came highly recommended by our neurosurgeon at PSU Hershey Med Center. They are excellent surgeons and took their time explaining everything. She had her surgery in May and is starting to get a little muscle activity now! (all 5 nerves were avulsed)