Spine Surgeon's Greatest Challenge of His Career | Dr. Ted Belanger Performs Life Changing Surgeries

The world-class spine surgery skills of Dr. Theodore Belanger will be evident for the world to observe this week when the Texas Back Institute surgeon performs two, extremely challenging surgical procedures on two young people who have been transported from Ethiopia. The two patients, who have allowed us to share their names and medical histories, arrived in the Dallas area on October 22, 2015, and will undergo their respective surgeries the following week.

Because of the generosity of The Medical Center of Plano and Texas Back Institute, these very complicated and costly procedures along with the 3-month recuperation will be completed at no charge to the two patients.

Two Patients in Desperate Need

“One of the patients is a 13-year old girl, Samrawit from Mojo, Ethiopia, who has severe idiopathic scoliosis,” he said. “This is a condition that we commonly see in America, but usually patients in this country get treatment in a timelier manner because they have access to specialists in this condition. A 50 degrees curvature of the spine is fairly common in the US, but in Ethiopia I see patients with curvature of 100 degrees and worse. The patient whom we will be operating on has a curvature of greater than 100 degrees.”

“The second patient, a 20-year old man named Haymanot Ashmare, has a rapidly-deteriorating spinal condition called ankylosing spondylitis,” Dr. Belanger said. “Because this is an inflammatory condition characterized by the fusing the entire spine and severe spinal deformity, he is bent over 90 degrees. He was found living on the street in Addis Ababa outside Mother Teresa’s mission before being accepted for this procedure. When this patient stands up as straight as he can, his chest and head are pointing at the ground.”

“This young man is essentially homeless and must beg for food,” he said. “He has been taken in by my friend Dr. Rick Hodes in Africa, who through his foundation, The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, gathers these patients and gets them to people like me who can provide surgical care for them. Trying to complete this surgery in Africa, without the specialized equipment and facilities we have here, would be too dangerous.”

“It is no exaggeration to say that this procedure will be one of the toughest surgeries that I have ever tried to do in my practice,” Dr. Belanger said. “We couldn’t do this without the bravery of the patients involved. I am always in awe of the fact that these patients are allowing some stranger from America do some very complicated surgery on them. Many don’t speak English and often have never seen a white person before. This is a testament to their bravery.”

The Lives of These Two Young People Will Never be the Same

The two procedures required many hours in the operating room. Dr. Belanger estimates the first procedure on the young woman will require approximately 6 hours of surgery then 3 to 4 days in the hospital. She will then go to the rehabilitation facility. The second, more complicated procedure on the young man will take about between 10 and 12 hours, depending on complications that might arise. He will need intensive care and possibility blood transfusions for about a week after the surgery.

“I feel good about helping someone who really needs it,” he said. “There are many people who do these types of things for patients but what I have learned from my many trips to Africa is that there is no shortage of people who need our help. I can list many spine surgeons who work in these areas, but we can barely make a dent in this problem without more and more participation from other doctors every year.”

There are millions of young people, throughout the world, who need medical treatment for spinal deformities but this week, Dr. Theodore Belanger is forever changing the lives of two of them. To keep up with other news follow the Texas Back Institute on Facebook and Twitter.
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