Nichole Thomas at Och Spine Hospital
They are not just incredible doctors—they are incredible humans,” says Thomas.
At 16, Nichole Thomas suffered a cheerleading injury that changed her life. Thomas fell from the top of a three-tier human pyramid and fractured her spine. This event was the catalyst for a scoliosis diagnosis and a long healthcare journey: over 15 surgeries, several blood clots, misdiagnoses, and years of intense nausea and debilitating pain in her spine, pelvis, and both legs.
In 2017, Thomas and her husband felt they had exhausted their options near their home in Southaven, Mississippi. Thomas recalls her husband urging her to see the best spine surgeon in the country—Dr. Lawrence Lenke at NewYork-Presbyterian.
Dr. Lenke performed surgery to help straighten Thomas’s back, providing more mobility and less pain. “It was an amazing process, from the initial phase of treatment until I was released from the hospital,” says Thomas.
A year later, Thomas could barely hold her head up—her cervical vertebrae were about to collapse. Thomas came back to NYP, and Dr. Lenke and Dr. Daniel Riew, who specialize in the cervical spine, devised a plan and performed immediate surgery to stabilize Thomas’s neck.
Four weeks later, Thomas blacked out and fell in the shower. Scans revealed a skull fracture. Soon, a team of about 15
surgeons were reviewing her case, including Dr. Lenke and Dr. Riew.
Thomas decided to travel to New York for her next surgery. It was a risk to fly, but Thomas wanted to be at NYP.
Thomas’s injury was unique: The bone had fractured in a way more common in children. Dr. Lenke performed a halo
traction procedure on an adult for the first time, and Dr. Ronald Lehman, Jr., performed a cervical fusion. One screw kept Thomas from being paralyzed.
Today, she is walking around freely, feeling happy and healthy. “It took ten years and eight months of day in and day out
pain, but now this is such a beautiful ending,” says Thomas.