Physician, Staff Credited for 'Miracle' Recovery



Sue Ann Lincoln and Bruce Lincoln
share a happy moment in Sue Ann’s room recently at
Franciscan St. Anthony Health-Crown Point.

Sue Ann Lincoln's recovery, following brain surgery that took place after her  involvement in a motorcycle accident, is being called a miracle.  

Lincoln and her husband, Bruce, who reside in Lake Odessa, Mich., were passing through the area July 1 -- about 20 miles south of Crown Point -- on the way to a backpacking vacation in Wyoming and South Dakota, when their $32,000 Harley-Davidson motorcycle broadsided a car that turned in front of them.

Both longtime riders were wearing helmets, which flew off upon impact. The Harley was totaled.

The Lincolns were taken by ambulance to Franciscan St. Anthony Health Crown Point and today praise the treatment they have received from the hospital staff -- from Emergency Department personnel to other physicians and nurses who have tended to her. But their highest praise is for the surgeon, Dr. Hytham Rifai.

"Dr. Rifai's first words to me were, 'your wife is a very sick girl,' " Bruce, who also suffered serious, but less life-threatening injuries in the crash, recalled. "He told me she needed surgery, but that she could still die or be paralyzed, even with it. I approved the surgery and he did it right now – the day she came in, and it turned out great."

Surgery involved removing the left portion of Sue's skull, to relieve pressure and swelling caused by the trauma, as well as to stop it from hemorrhaging.

Following subsequent days of touch-and-go during which Sue was unconscious, Rifai said he was hopeful of a full recovery, but that she was not out of the woods yet – that she still could die, Bruce said.
But, two-and-one-half weeks later, Sue had recovered to the point she was discharged to a rehabilitation hospital in Michigan.

She recently returned to Franciscan St. Anthony Health to have the removed portion of her skull reinstalled, since the swelling had gone. Surgery was performed Oct. 12 and Sue went home that week.

"We didn't have to come back here to have the skull put back together; we had a hospital lined up in Michigan, but Sue wanted Dr. Rifai to do it," Bruce said, adding, "He did the job right. He's thorough, honest and straightforward; doesn't give you false hope. He tells it like it is and we trust him. So, the three-hour drive to come here is no big deal."

Next step will be removal of the staples in her head and although that also could be done close to home, Sue said, "I want to come back to Dr. Rifai to get them out."

Rifai refused to take credit.

"God's will is over all else," he said. "This is a tribute to the St. Anthony team, of which I am one part. From the Emergency Department to the other physicians and nurses and all involved. It was a seamless, cooperative effort. All of them were outstanding."

Rifai added, "The community needs to know they don't have to travel to Chicago or other hospitals outside the area to get the best possible care – all of Franciscan Alliance's hospitals have the same capabilities."

Rifai, a neurological and spinal surgeon who practices at Franciscan St. Anthony Health, said he expects Sue to make a full recovery. That wasn't the case when he first saw her in the Emergency Department.

"I thought she was going to die. I told her husband we could operate, but she could still die or end up paralyzed; or we could just leave her alone. He wanted us to do all we could to try to save her, so we did our best and it had a good outcome."

"It is a miracle," Bruce said of the recovery of his wife of 26 years.

Asked whether they might consider future motorcycle trips (a year ago they traveled to Arizona), Sue said, "Bruce will have to ask me that next summer. I'm not so sure right now."

He replied, "My guess is, she will."