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Spine tumor patient finds health again at Stanford
March 2, 2022 - By Dian Le
Courtesy of Megan Seevers
In September 2020, 26 year old Megan Seevers brushed off the intermittent back pain she felt while walking her dog on the streets of New York City. She figured it was caused by her headstrong puppy pulling her during their walks.
She dismissed the pain, until it became so bad that she couldn't sleep in bed anymore. Her mattress wasn't firm enough, so she slept on the floor. After four weeks with no relief, her doctor ordered imaging scans of her spine.
The results showed a sacral tumor the size of a peach, at the bottom of her spine. Megan was diagnosed with synovial sarcoma, a rare soft tissue cancer.
Megan and her fiancé Chris consulted with several surgeons across the country; they all recommended that her entire sacrum and all of the nerves of the sacrum needed to be removed in order to remove the tumor. This surgery would have resulted in complete loss of neurological function in her groin and parts of her legs and feet.
For Megan, the thought of losing urinary, bowel, and sexual function was difficult to swallow. "Once you get rid of it, you can't grow it back. And it's not like lizards, like they can grow their tail back if it comes off," said Megan. "You lose it, it's gone."
Undergoing surgery
Megan and Chris chose Dr. Desai because of his expertise with spinal sarcoma tumors. They also liked his honesty. "He's a straight shooter. He doesn't give me fluff. He doesn't tell me if there's something that can be done that he doesn't think he can," said Megan. "I think that's an amazing quality of a surgeon, of always wanting you to be as realistic as possible."
Dr. Desai was able to preserve Megan's function by removing as little of the spine as possible while taking out her entire tumor. He removed part of the sacrum on the right side, which was the side her tumor was affecting, and saved the left side. This allowed the nerves on the left side of the sacrum to take over for the nerves lost on the right side, resulting in very little loss of neurological function.
Ahead of surgery, Dr. Desai used a virtual reality platform called Surgical Theater to create a 3D model of Megan's tumor and her spine. Using Surgical Theater allowed Dr. Desai to plan the surgery in fine detail. Megan also was able to utilize the VR program to help visualize her tumor.
On June 28th, 2021, Megan had her tumor surgery at Stanford Medicine; it took place over three days and involved a team of surgeons. On the first day, Dr. Desai and surgical oncologist Dr. Byrne Lee made an incision in her abdomen to dissect the front of the tumor away from critical structures in her abdomen and pelvis. The surgical team used stereotactic navigation, a GPS system to guide the surgery in real time, to precisely guide the tumor removal. On the second day, they made an incision in the lower back and into the sacrum and removed the tumor in its entirety. On the final day, Dr. Desai and plastic surgeon Dr. Subhro K. Sen reconstructed the spine with a titanium construct.
Megan, her fiancé Chris, and their dog Murphy at 8 months post surgery.
Regaining her life back
After surgery, Megan now has slight numbness in her leg, and in the heel of her foot—but her neurological function is otherwise intact. She is grateful to be able to keep up with activities she previously enjoyed, including walks with her dog. "I went from being off balance and not being able to walk him every single day," she said. "Now I'm walking three miles a day."
Aside from her daily dogwalks, Megan is also looking forward to being able to walk herself down the aisle this fall at her wedding.
Although she will have routine scans to ensure there is no recurrence, Megan has been cancer-free for eight months and counting. "We fought so hard to get here, and I feel really lucky to be with an institution that has such top quality care," she said. "Dr. Desai just happens to be my hero."