Human Interest Stories

By Susan Bloom

In 1992, 56-year-old Middletown resident Michael Spratford had surgery to remove a malignant brain tumor. But while that problem is long behind him, the tumor left some lingering effects in its wake.

“Ever since the surgery, I’ve had problems with feelings of dizziness. I always feel like I’m falling forward and that I have to steady myself,” he said of a condition that led to his permanent disability from work as well as a string of visits to different neurologists. The medications they prescribed delivered limited success.

But since undergoing specialized therapy for his balance disorder at Crest Physical Therapy, “I’ve started doing things I wasn’t able to do in 21 years,” Spratford said.

WHEN the car in which 16–year–old Emma Ings was travelling hit a lamppost she felt lucky to escape with whiplash, a broken hand and a black eye. Yet four years later when she started suffering from dizzy spells her family began to wonder if they were linked to the smash.

Now 42 the cancer nurse from Hitchin, Hertfordshire, knows the dizziness was the first of many symptoms of Ménière's disease, a long–term progressive condition of the inner ear which affects balance and hearing and causes tinnitus and debilitating vertigo.

Retired teacher Judy Machin discusses the challenges involved with managing an unpredictable and often debilitating condition…

Dr. William F. House also developed a successful surgery for an ear disease that had prevented astronaut Alan Shepard from returning to space.

By Elaine Woo, Los Angeles Times December 11, 2012, 8:01 p.m.

Dr. William F. House, a dentist-turned-ear specialist who 50 years ago defied the medical establishment and many advocates for the hearing impaired to champion an implantable device, now widely accepted, that made everyday sounds audible to the profoundly deaf, has died. He was 89.

In what he calls a freakish accident, he smacked the back of his head on the metal horizontal bar during a routine. The accident caused a traumatic brain injury and severe damage to the vestibular canal of his inner ear, which affected his balance so much that even the slightest movement could cause Behan to black out. Read more...