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HICKORY, N.C. - 45 minutes. That’s how long Jennifer Pitman had left to live. Her best friend took her to the Emergency Room at Frye Regional Medical Center on Sunday, February 6, 2022, where she had emergency cranial surgery that saved her life.

The Thursday before, Jennifer went to an urgent care for back pain attributed to a urinary tract infection. She was treated, but her condition continued to worsen, and that Saturday, she took an ambulance to the ER and received additional treatment for her pain and infection. Jennifer’s condition continued to decline despite the treatments she was receiving. and when her friend took her back to the ER, she was unable to walk. She remembers being put in a wheelchair, and then nothing.

An infectious disease physician ordered an MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) that found an infection that spread into Jennifer’s spinal cord and brain, along with abscesses on her back and a diagnosis of sepsis. That is when Mark Ishak, DO, performed lifesaving cranial surgery.

Jennifer shared that Dr. Ishak told her husband that they got her to surgery just in time. “If I had laid in bed another hour, I wouldn’t have made it.”  Jennifer and her family are grateful that she listened to her body and realized that despite the medical treatments she received, something still wasn’t right, and she continued to seek treatment.

After the surgery, Jennifer spent over a month at Frye Regional in recovery, first in the Intensive Care Unit and then in inpatient rehabilitation. She does not remember much from her stay in the ICU, but she remembers watching the snow fall from the fifth-floor window.

“People ask me, ‘why did you have it done at Frye?’,” Jennifer said. “Number one, I didn’t have time to be transported. Number two, I was right where God wanted me to be because Dr. Ishak stepped in and literally saved me.”

On inpatient rehabilitation, Jennifer was deemed a “walking miracle” by staff, who pushed her to keep going even when she was tired. All her hard work paid off, as Jennifer was discharged a month and a half after her surgery. Just over a year later, Jennifer was able to attend Taylor Swift’s The Eras Tour in Nashville, Tenn., with her daughter.

Jennifer works long hours as a bail bondsperson and is grateful for her second chance at life. She watched her daughter graduate high school this year and will continue to watch her grow as she attends UNC Chapel Hill in the fall. While Jennifer no longer has follow-up appointments with Dr. Ishak, she would choose him for brain and spinal care if needed again without hesitation.

“Don’t go out of town. We have qualified neurosurgeons and doctors in our community, and they are very capable of doing what needs to be done to protect our community; I won’t use another hospital. I trust Frye.”

To learn more about brain and spine care at Frye Regional Medical Center, visit MyFryeRegional.com.

About Frye Regional Medical Center: A part of Duke LifePoint Healthcare, Frye Regional Medical Center has served the health and medical needs of the residents of the Catawba Valley region since 1911 with a commitment to delivering high quality and compassionate care with a focus on patient satisfaction and clinical outcomes. In 2023, the hospital made nearly $13.5 million in capital investments; donated more than $72.5 million in services to those in need; and added 96 employed and independent providers. Frye Regional Medical Center includes a 355-bed acute care hospital—home to the Frye Regional Brain Center, Cancer Center, Heart Center, Lung Center, Orthopedics, General and Vascular Surgery, Surgical Weight Loss, and Women’s Center with a Level III NICU. The hospital also features a 32-bed Emergency Department, 29-bed Inpatient Rehabilitation Center, 15-bed Surgical Suite and Inpatient/Outpatient Imaging. Frye Regional’s South Campus is home to an 81-bed Behavioral Health Hospital. The health system also offers regional access to more than 80 primary care and specialty care providers through the FryeCare Physicians Network. Learn more at www.MyFryeRegional.com.

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