The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1895-01-09
With q Broken Backbone.

Charles Allen, OF sacramento, is Lne
only man, so far as the medical author
tiles testify, who, after having part of
his spine removed, not only survives
to relate his experience, but lives to
enjoy renewal of the health he lost
when he fell and broke his back. The
remarkable operation was performed
by local surgeon. 1t was daring
one, some of the old practitioners
might call it a foolhardy one, but it
was successful and success needs no
apology.
Before the surgeons knife entered
his flesh Allen did not know mo-
ment's rest frcm agony. When he
awoke from the stupor in which chlo-
reform had placed him lis excrucia-
ting pains were gone. Before the
surgeon removed part Of his spine
Allen was a helpless cripple, unable
to move either Of his lower limbs and
barely able to raise his arms. After
a section of his backbone had been
taken away and he had become an
anomaly among men, he could use his
arms as freely as he could before the
accident which deprived him Of mo-
tion and almost of life. He could walk
again, and hopes before long to be
quite equal to the tasks Of everyday
life, even if he has lost several links
in the bony chain of his back.
The operation upon Allen is an un-
paralleled one in many respects. Its
significance lies not in the fact that
Allen is alive. Under the conditions
of well-regulated medical practice he
ought to be dead. His dangerous
wound demanded dangerous remedy,
and surgeons very often place life in
the balance to save life. If there had
been shock to the spinal cord while
the surgeon used his knife Allen
would never have awakened from his
stupor. The shock would have been
death.
Delicacy Of touch was necessary in
the operation, and the surgeon evil
dently possessed it. That was to be
expected as a matter Of course, and
the surgeon anticipated his triumph
only in what came as an ultimate
result of the operation. He sees its
importance in the fact that Allen is
regaining his health, that he is able
to move his legs and that he is grow
ing from almost living skeleton to a
normally heavy man.
This operation upon Allen is with
out parallel in many respects, as has
already been indicated. There are
many known cases where parts of the
vertebre have been successfully re-
moved, but the physician who operat-
ed upon Allen says he never saw,
never heard of, nor never read Of an
operation similar to the one which
has restored Allen to health.
The history of the case is interest
ing. About ten years ago Allen,
while working as breakman, slipped
from the frosty roof Of box car and
fell, in a sitting posture, astride Of a
rail. As direct result his legs were
paralyzed, and gradually they began
to waste away. Atfrst Allen thought
little of his injury, and it was years
before the full effects began to be felt.
Any attempt to straighten out his legs
caused the sufferer intense age:
From the time Of the accident until
relief was afforded ipy the surgeon S
knife the sufferer was not free from
naig.s single minute, day or night.
| Allen is about 40 years of age. His
normal weight was about one hundred
and sixty pounds, but continued ILL.,
ness and suffering so reduced him that
at the time he was operated upon he
did not weigh seventy-fve pounds.
The fracture was from the second
lumbar vertebra down through the
sacrum and coocyx. The result was a
pathological growth in these bones,
causing an enlargement nine inches
long and seven inches wide. This
protruded fully two inches from the
level of the back to the apex Of the
swelling, and presented a formation
not unlike huge tumor. 1t was un'
der these conditions that DR.. 81. G.
McGill undertook the case. Finding
that all ordinary methods of treatment
failed to restore the use of his legs tc
the patient Or to give him freedom
from pain, it became evident that only
in the most heroic and delicate surgi'
cal treatment was there any hope Of
affording the sufferer the relief h'
sought.
When this fact was presented tt
the patient he only too readily acqui
esced in DR.. McGill's opinion, insist
ing in fact that the danger Of the
operation must not interfere with it,
undertaking. Approaching the gray
ity Of the case Dr. McGill called upor
his brother, DR.. A. B. McGill, ant
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