Jeremiah Dawson lived with chronic neck and back pain for nearly 10 years, and his advice to those suffering from chronic pain is to “just keep pushing through. It’s a battle. One day at a time.” Thanks to Dr. Kamson and the Spine Institute Northwest, he’s also here to tell you that, “there is light at the end of the tunnel.”
Jeremiah first started experiencing back pain in 2006, when he was working as a field-training officer. Being out in the field with rookie police officers kept him on his feet, and it was during a chase that he realized how bad his pain had become. “During that foot pursuit, every time that my feet hit the ground, I’d get a sharp pain that went down whatever leg hit the ground,” Jeremiah remembers. “At that point I knew, you know, it was more than just a backache.”
His pain became progressively worse, and it was frustrating not only that it interfered with his work, but that Jeremiah also felt it kept him from being there for his family as a husband and father. “You can’t do as much with your family as you want to, you’re not able to spend as much time out,” he recalls. “I was in bed all the time.”
After being diagnosed with varying ailments and trying conservative treatments like pain medication, Jeremiah’s doctor referred him to Solomon Kamson. “He has a way of putting you at ease, and you’re able to talk to him and he gives you the answers you need,” Jeremiah says.
He wound up having multiple minimally invasive fusion procedures, both in his lumbar spine and in his cervical spine. Though he notes that fusion does limit your movement somewhat, Jeremiah says it’s nothing like the limitation he had when he was in pain. “My wife and kids, they say I’m a different person,” he explains. “I’m able to go fishing with my son, do things with my daughter.”
For Jeremiah, the change in his quality of life following his fusions has been well worth it. “I haven’t regretted one moment. They were saying I wouldn’t walk without a cane, [and] I’m walking normally now.” He’s finally getting back his life.
Listen to Jeremiah explain how his life is different now: