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Jackson Miracle Stories
Jackson Miracle Stories
Your dollars at work.
Richardy Blanchard
“You probably will never have children”, are words Richardy Blanchard, 40, heard in her early 20’s after being diagnosed with polycystic ovarian syndrome. After two decades of irregular menstrual cycles, she was shocked to discover she was pregnant.
During a routine check-up at 18 weeks, the ultrasound tech discovered Blanchard had an incompetent cervix, meaning her cervix was too short to support a pregnancy. Blanchard sought a second opinion and found The Women’s Hospital at Jackson Memorial.
At 19 weeks, Blanchard began having unusual discharge. The doctors at Jackson Memorial explained that because of her open cervix, her amniotic sack was protruding, posing a risk for sepsis. The options included inducing labor, which would mean the baby would be stillborn, or leaving the hospital because her pregnancy was not yet viable.
Blanchard met Pouya Abhari, MD, FACOG, a maternal fetal medicine specialist at The Women’s Hospital, who promised that once Blanchard reached 22 weeks gestation, the earliest stage of viability for a baby, he would admit her and care for her until it was time to deliver her baby.
Once she was admitted at 22 weeks, Blanchard’s cervix was already 3 centimeters dilated. At 30 weeks, Blanchard’s water broke and she went into labor naturally.
Samuel Gerdes was born healthy, answering all of Blanchard’s prayers.
While in the NICU, Samuel never required oxygen and took to bottle feeding quickly with donor milk, allowing him to gain weight and reach his milestones. Blanchard spent every available moment by his side.
Two months later, Samuel was discharged, finally going home to be surrounded by his family.
“Throughout this journey, I have experienced the best and worst of the healthcare industry,” Blanchard said. “Thank you to every doctor who answered my questions, celebrated every day with me, learned my son’s name, and embodied God’s love.”
Matthew Nuñez
Matthew Nuñez had spent years running, following in his older brother’s footsteps as a track and cross-country athlete at Christopher Columbus Senior High School. As his senior year approached, he was preparing for collegiate competition, supported by his family and teammates.
But on September 27, 2024, everything changed. Less than half a mile into a race, Matthew felt a sudden, sharp pain on the right side of his head, spreading to his jaw. The pain became unbearable, forcing him to stop and walk toward the race paramedics. At first, they suspected dehydration, but something was clearly wrong.
Matthew’s mother, Anna, waited for him at the two-mile mark, but he never arrived. Soon, calls started coming in: “Something happened. Get to the finish line.”
He was rushed to Ryder Trauma Center at Jackson South, where Antonio Marttos, MD, a UHealth – University of Miami Health System trauma surgeon at Ryder Trauma and his team worked to stabilize him. Matthew was in critical condition, unable to move his right side. As he underwent a CT scan, his heart and lungs began to fail. Doctors acted quickly, intubating him and administering life-saving medication. When the scan was completed, the diagnosis was devastating—a massive brain bleed, which caused him to go into multi-organ failure.
As Anna prayed in the hospital chapel, surgeons performed emergency neurosurgery to relieve the pressure on Matthew’s brain. Once stabilized, he was airlifted to Jackson Memorial Hospital, where neurosurgeons discovered a vascular lesion in his brainstem. On October 4, Adib Abla, MD, chief of cranial neurosurgery at Jackson Memorial and his team successfully removed it.
After 26 days in intensive care and 11 days in rehabilitation, Matthew made a miraculous recovery. Today, he is back to running, finishing his senior year, and looking ahead to college.
“To the team at Jackson—there are no words. They saved my life,” he said.
Brianna Denny
When Brianna Denny was 11 years old, she was diagnosed with a blood factor deficiency, a rare bleeding disorder where clotting proteins in the blood are missing, low, or don’t work well. Until this point, she was a normal, healthy kid who enjoyed softball, spending time with her friends and family, and going to school.
In February, Brianna, now 15, broke out in a rash on her feet. When it began to spread to her legs and became painful to the touch, she and her family knew something was wrong. A visit to a local children’s hospital led her to a rheumatologist, who began running tests to identify the cause of the rash.
About a month later, the rash returned and went further up Brianna’s leg. A hematologist recommended she be transported to Holtz Children’s Hospital.
While at Holtz Children’s, it was discovered that Brianna had autoimmune hepatitis, a rare, chronic liver disease that occurs when the body’s immune system attacks the liver, and hepatopulmonary syndrome, a rare lung complication connected to liver disease. Due to these conditions, she was experiencing stage three cirrhosis of the liver, a condition that can only be treated with a liver transplant.
Brianna was immediately placed under the care of the pediatric transplant team at the Miami Transplant Institute (MTI), which included Gennaro Selvaggi, MD, transplant surgeon.
Brianna was listed for a transplant on April 17, and just seven days later, received the call that a liver had been found. On April 25, Dr. Selvaggi and his team transplanted Brianna and gave her a second chance at life.
“Thank you to the team of doctors, nurses, and everyone at the hospital who took care of me,” Brianna said. “My mom gave me the strength to get through this, and so did my friends, who reached out every day.”
Kevin and Amy Stalbaum
St. Croix couple involved in hit and run recovers with help from Ryder Trauma Center and Lynn Rehabilitation Center
Kevin Stalbaum, 63, and his wife, Amy Stalbaum, 53, live for adventure. After years of working, the couple decided a quiet retirement awaited them in the Caribbean island of St. Croix.
On September 17, 2023, the Stalbaums went on a bike ride together at 6:45 a.m. Less than 10 minutes into their ride, a car crashed into both of them from behind.
The impact from the crash left both Amy and Kevin unconscious on the road. Emergency medical services rushed the couple to the nearest emergency room on the island, where doctors diagnosed Kevin with leg, cervical, and lumbar fractures, and Amy with severe road rash, a brain bleed, and a spinal fracture.
Because of the severity of their injuries, Amy and Kevin needed to be medically evacuated to the nearest trauma center, and by Monday, September 18, the Stalbaums arrived to Ryder Trauma Center at Jackson Memorial by helicopter, where they were prepped for emergency surgery.
“For Kevin’s lumbar surgery, we used a CT-based navigation surgical system, which enabled us to direct the screws in the exact position needed. With this procedure, we hope to mitigate Kevin’s pain, and avoid any deformities in his spine from forming in the future,” said Stephen Shelby Burks, Jr., MD, a UHealth – University of Miami Health System neurosurgeon and spinal cord surgeon at Jackson.
At the same time, Amy’s surgical team used robot-assisted surgery to place the screws and rods in her spine. Jackson Memorial is one of a few hospitals in the nation with the robot technology available for use in spinal surgery.
After spending nearly three weeks in the hospital, the Stalbaums were discharged on October 10. They received rehabilitation therapy at Lynn Rehabilitation Center, and created comprehensive plans with therapists to help with their mobility, balance, endurance, and strength.
“We count our blessings that we landed here,” Amy said. “Jackson’s staff and our community back home in St. Croix really helped us get through this.”
Carrie Bloemers
Woman regains movement and function in leg after rare nerve transfer surgery at Jackson
For Carrie Bloemers, 34, staying active was always a part of her daily life.
However, she started to experience extreme pain in her right knee and hip after giving birth to her third baby in May 2020.
“I started going to physical therapy for the pain, and my physical therapist felt a lump in my abdomen, around my right hip,” Bloemers said. “That’s when I found out I was growing a tumor.”
On January 13, 2021, she underwent surgery at a hospital on the west coast of Florida to remove the mass.
However, in the midst of the procedure, her surgeons discovered the tumor was vascular. It intertwined with her femoral nerve, which controls the movement and sensation in the hips and legs. To remove the tumor, her surgeons also had to remove the nerve, causing Bloemers to lose all function in her right quadriceps, or the front muscle on her right thigh.
As a result, the entire front side of her leg went numb.
Facing the possibility of never being able to walk without a cane or knee brace, Bloemers found hope when she met Allan D. Levi, MD, PhD, chief of neurosurgery at Jackson Memorial Hospital.
Dr. Levi and the Jackson Memorial neurosurgery team decided a nerve transfer surgery to Bloemers’ right quadriceps muscle was the best option for her – a rare surgical technique that transfers a nerve from another muscle to the affected muscle. On June 4, 2021, Dr. Levi and his team successfully transferred a part of her obturator nerve to the nerve supplying the right quadriceps muscle on Bloemers.
For 16 months after her nerve transfer, Bloemers continued to use a walker and knee brace to get around, as the nerve took time to regenerate. She also needed to train her brain to reactivate the nerve specifically for the affected muscle.
However, by March 2022, she and her doctors picked up her first quadriceps muscle signal.
Today, after nearly two years, Bloemers can walk normally on her own, climb up and down stairs, and keeps up with her family.
“This was a very unique procedure, and they went after it with my own goals in mind. Without this team, I wouldn’t be where I’m at today,” Bloemers said.
Ruamen DelaRua
After a life-threatening motorcycle accident, motorman for City of Miami Police Department saved by Ryder Trauma Center at Jackson South, recovers at Lynn Rehabilitation Center
For Miami native Ruamen DeLaRua, 60, serving his community is part of his identity. For seven years, DeLaRua served as a motorman for the City of Miami Police Department.
On September 9, 2023, DeLaRua was involved in a life-threatening motorcycle accident while on his way to escort patrons during a funeral service.
Bystanders immediately called for help. DeLaRua was rushed to Ryder Trauma Center at Jackson South with extensive injuries, including a broken right leg, a broken femur, and fractures in both of his hands. After a successful five-hour procedure, he spent four days at Jackson South recovering.
DeLaRua was transferred to Christine E. Lynn Rehabilitation Center for The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis at UHealth/Jackson Memorial to undergo physical and occupational therapy.
When it was time for him to go home, DeLaRua surpassed all of his rehabilitation goals. He was walking further on the platform walker, and his endurance greatly improved. Additionally, DeLaRua had a ramp
He credits the teams at Jackson South and Lynn Rehabilitation Center for saving his life.
“My heart goes out to all of the teams,” DeLaRua said. “I really appreciate the time and effort they took on just one person. They really treated me like family.”