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Our Stories |
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Christa
(photo taken 11 months prior to strokes) - I am a stroke survivor. At 39, I suffered two brainstem strokes after a chiropractic upper neck manipulation. My story, and others, was published in an article in Self Magazine in 2007 and can be read here and also read here. This event changed my life forever and I deeply mourn the loss of my former self. However, I am one of the ‘lucky ones’. I did not die and I am not paralyzed, and there are many who were not so lucky. I never knew about this horrible risk associated with upper cervical manipulations and have found that most of the public has been denied this information as well. It has been kept secret for many years and I don’t understand why. To the many chiropractic stroke survivors who are struggling with devastating consequences of undergoing upper neck manipulation and to the family members of those who lost their lives, I will do everything in my power to raise awareness on this serious public health risk. If even one person is spared from being maimed or dying, I will have succeeded.
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Laurie Jean
In 1998, 20-year-old Laurie Jean visited a chiropractor for a tailbone injury. The chiropractor performed an upper neck manipulation and she immediately lapsed into a coma on the chiropractor’s treatment table. She died three days later. Her mother, Sharon, watched in disbelief as her young, healthy daughter lay in a coma and died. She has made it her primary life goal to warn people of the risks of chiropractic upper cervical manipulations. Sharon’s interview can be viewed at www.neck911.com.
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Sandra
(photos taken before and after Sandra’s strokes) - In 2007, Sandra visited a chiropractor in Edmonton for health maintenance. She was 40 years old and in perfect health. While driving home, she felt dizzy and experienced visual disturbances. As her symptoms worsened, she pulled over to the side of the road and called her husband, who took her to the hospital. Sandy suffered multiple strokes from tears to both vertebral arteries in the upper part of her neck, resulting in ‘locked-in’ syndrome. She is paralyzed and cannot speak or eat. Through rehabilitation, she has regained some function in one arm and can communicate by pressing a speech-synthesizing touch pad. Sandra and her husband, David, are committed to raising awareness about the stroke risk of upper neck adjustments. You can view her story on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHX7m09OZ8E.
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Kristi
In 1993, Kristi, a medical office administrator and former beauty queen from Little Mountain, South Carolina, consulted a chiropractor for sinus headaches. During her second visit, she suffered a stroke immediately after the chiropractor manipulated her neck. She died three days later, one day before her 25th birthday. The autopsy revealed that the upper neck manipulation had split the inside walls of her vertebral arteries, causing the walls to balloon and blood clots to form, blocking the blood supply to her brain. You can read more about Kristi’s story at http://www.quackwatch.com/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/chiro.html.
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John
In 2004, John suffered a carotid dissection and stroke after having a chiropractor manipulate his neck. His stroke occurred approximately three hours after leaving the chiropractor’s office. He was admitted to the ICU at a local hospital and ultimately died, leaving behind his wife of 17 years, Susan. The autopsy report and death certificate state cause of death as stroke caused by neck manipulation. You can read more about John’s story at http://www.chiropracticstroke.com/victims.johnhoffman.php. Widowed at 41, Susan is committed to raising awareness and mandating that all chiropractors provide their patients with informed consent, as well as discharge summaries stating the symptoms of stroke, as early treatment is essential to survival and recovery. She is the President of a victim’s organization, V.O.I.C.E.S., www.voicesusa.org.
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