Spinal Cord Injury - Zarina Rahman

In Zarina’s Own Words

“I can now hold a fork, or a knife or spoon in my right hand. You wouldn’t think that that would make so much of a difference, but it does… Because of my triceps brachial nerve transfer I am able to move my arms. I am breathing on my own and I am able to do a lot of things that they said I couldn't do.”

I broke my neck in 2010, the exact date was April 26, 2010.

Basically, what happened was, I had just bought my house and there was no rail by the staircase. It was going to be put in the day after I broke my neck. I fell down the stairs and hit my neck on a table that was nearby. That was the reason for the paralysis.

When I first got taken to the hospital there was a 50-50 chance of me living or passing away. The doctors didn't think I was going to make it. My parents were called and flew in from Singapore. Doctors told my parents not to expect much from me. Basically, they said I wasn't going to be able to breathe on my own. I wasn’t going to be able to move my arms. In fact, I only had control of my head.

So after the injury it was incredibly tough and really intense for me. I wasn't accepting of the diagnosis but I went to therapy a lot. When I went for therapy, in 2012, Dr. Justin Brown came and made a presentation, and he talked about the nerve transfer surgery that he was doing. I was very interested, but I didn't follow up with it until about a year after. And when I did follow up with it, I had a series of three surgeries, between June 2013 and April 2014.

One of the surgeries was on my hand. He weaved a tendon across my knuckles. There was a little cut in my wrist and Dr. Brown tried to anchor my wrist because it was turning inwards, and he did a tendon transfer there, too.

The next surgery was for my triceps. It was a really long line from my triceps halfway down to just before my elbow, and then I had another really long line on the inside of my forearm. And what has happened is that the surgeries worked so well for me that I have full tricep function on my right arm and I can grip things in my right hand that I couldn't do before when I had no grip.

With the third surgery, I asked Dr. Brown if I could watch it, because he had said, “You can get local anesthesia or general anesthesia” and I asked him if he did the surgery under local anesthesia could I watch it? So he let me do that! My last surgery was in April 2014.

In 2014 I went back to school, so I’m still in school. I took a year and a half break so I am doing my masters in rehabilitation counseling, and I'm going the psychiatric rehab route. Dr. Brown facilitated having my hand back. Being able to grip really helped, with school stuff, with really everything in the city life.

I can now hold a fork, or a knife or spoon in my right hand. You wouldn’t think that that would make so much of a difference, but it does. Because of my triceps brachial nerve transfer I am able to move my arms. I am breathing on my own and I am able to do a lot of things that they said I couldn't do. Dr. Brown had a different perspective completely because, when I asked him, if I could walk again, his answer was “You know, I don't know because there are people who have been able to walk again even after an injury like this.” So that was different from every single other doctor that I've spoken to about being able to walk again. Every one of them categorically stated, “No, it's not going to happen,” and one of them actually even said, “Well, if Christopher Reeve can't do it, with all the money that he has, what makes you think you can?”

Before my injury, I was at the peak of my fitness because I worked out. I did all kinds of things. I think that that helped me because I was not out of shape when I fell.

You talk with the other people with paralysis and you hear their stories and most of them were in the hospital for six months, at least. I was in for four. So I'm thinking that because I was in good shape, that really helped.

I've been very lucky, if you could say that, because I've been surrounded with people who are amazing. You know, who really, really care and they became my support system. The thing that I would say to others would be, get yourself a really good network of people that you can rely on, whether it's a caregiver or a family member or a neighbor.

I don't know how it happened, but I got really lucky that I have all these people. Because you’re going to need help, like it or not. The other thing I would say is don't give up because you don't know how far you can go, and keep an open mind. Do the therapy and even if you don't get any return back, you will keep your body a lot healthier. Keep eating right, working out. You can get some exercises you can do, even with a C5-C6 injury. Stay healthy because you want to be healthy if there’s some kind of a cure available. You know, you want to make sure you're able to take advantage of that.

What I would say about Dr. Justin Brown is that I would definitely go for a consultation with him. He’s really brilliant. He’s an amazing surgeon. And really one of the best in terms of not just his skill, but his bedside manner. I would have liked to have started the surgeries sooner, but I had insurance issues at the time. I will graduate, next spring in 2020. I got married last year in Singapore and I could not have traveled there if it wasn't for the surgeries that Dr. Brown did, for my support team, and my determination.

Book a consult with the Paralysis Center today (844) 930-1001