Bonnie Dragland always had to contend with scoliosis to make the most of her life, even as an avid swimmer. However, as her condition became increasingly debilitating, it seemed she would have to stop swimming altogether. Thanks to her incredible faith and help from the care teams at NewYork-Presbyterian, Bonnie has returned to the activity that brings her serenity.
“Swimming is my prayer time,” says Bonnie. “It’s quiet. It’s my time to detach from the outside world and become one with the water.” With her years of experience, Bonnie’s relationship with swimming transcends hobby: it is a serene spiritual practice that helps structure her life. So when her struggle with scoliosis became unbearable, it was cause for serious concern.
“Fourteen years ago the curvature in my back, that I had learned to live with my whole life, began to worsen. I knew I had to find a surgeon,” Bonnie recalls. “I spent six years looking for the right one and during that time, my quality of life deteriorated. I have many interests—ballroom dancing with my husband, playing with my grandchildren, ministering at my church, preparing large family meals, swimming—and I wanted to keep as many of them in my life as possible.”
Bonnie credits the divine with leading her to our hospital—namely, to Dr. Lawrence Lenke of Och Spine at NewYork-Presbyterian. Living in upstate New York, Bonnie's exhaustive search for care near home had resulted in no leads. “My faith helped me find Dr. Lenke and NYP. I left a message with Dr. Lenke’s office with a brief explanation of my spinal deformity. Dr. Lenke’s nurse returned my call the very same day,” Bonnie remembers. “Her kind words of concern and interest were so sincere, I felt like I was their only patient that day. When I met Dr. Lenke in person, he was the exact same way.”
Dr. Lenke and his team performed a total spinal fusion, which successfully changed the degree of the scoliosis curve in Bonnie’s back from 78 to 17 degrees. Bonnie spent five days in the hospital undergoing treatment and observation, supported all the while by NewYork-Presbyterian’s compassionate staff. “I had wonderful nursing care—everyone was just great,” she says.
Bonnie then had to face the tremendous challenges inherent in healing. “I won’t candy-coat it: the healing process from my spine surgery was the hardest physical rehabilitation I could have ever imagined,” she reveals. “If I could sleep anytime, I did. If I could eat anytime, I did. If the pain got the best of me, I would pack myself in ice and fall asleep that way. My husband, family, and friends went above and beyond standing by me during the healing process."
Being active had been an integral part of Bonnie’s life, and now she had to relearn every motion. “In the beginning, we had to pull all the rugs in our house and I used a walker to walk around” she says. Committed to her health, Bonnie gradually evolved to walking four miles a day. “I asked Dr. Lenke when I could get back into the water. At about eight weeks, he OK’d me to start swimming again, so my rehab then was inside the house and walking outside the house and now exercising in the rehabilitation centers pool. When you tell this story quickly, it sounds like it was cut-and-dried. There were a lot of days that were not cut-and-dried,” she admits. “Rehab was hard work, but well worth every minute.”
Eight years after the successful surgery, Bonnie was inspired to give back to commemorate this milestone. She knew swimming would be her method of fundraising but recognized she wanted to challenge herself even further. Bonnie had mostly swum in pools, yet her triumphant return to health prompted a new goal: a three-mile swim outdoors. “Both giving back to NYP and doing it by raising money with a three mile swim, were faith inspired. The preparation for the swim initially taught me that open-water swimming was nothing like pool swimming,” she says. “Open water is a whole other animal.”
Nevertheless, new surroundings didn’t dissuade her, and the compassion of her community helped propel her even further. “My daughters always laugh at me when I take on new projects,” she says. “They say I take a class in everything I take on. They are correct—I do. After my first attempt at open water last May, I knew I needed help. In speaking with friends, I found an open-water triathlon group that worked out weekly in a nearby lake. I joined and went every Thursday night throughout the summer. They taught me everything I didn’t know and everything I needed to know.”
Swimming in open water presented new difficulties even for a veteran swimmer like Bonnie. “I can’t tread water with total spinal fusion—that was the first challenge,” she offers. “My stepson Adam suggested I get a pair of mini-fins. Since it was November in the Northeast, I was only able to use them in my swim spa. Once summer came, I did find they were a great help in treading water.” Training year-round was a natural progression for Bonnie, who keeps her back healthy by frequently swimming against a current. “Although I did not use the swimming fins in the three-mile swim, I found they were the best help in gaining strength throughout my whole body during the winter," she says.
“My second challenge was that, due to the rods in my back, I cannot sight ahead while I’m swimming. Every time I would try, my feet would drop down and I would just about come to a stop.” As this abrupt starting and stopping was impeding her progress, Bonnie and her husband devised a plan. “Todd put a long white pole on the front of our boat with a red flag at the end of it. When I took a breath to the right, I would see water, trees, or houses. When I took a breath to the left, I would see the red flag, the boat, and Todd. Todd was going to be my sight. It took me the whole summer, but by the day of the three-mile swim, I didn’t try once to sight myself. During our practice swim segments, we figured the total swim would take three hours. To our surprise that day, we finished in two hours and 35 minutes.”
Bonnie’s wonderful efforts raised thousands of dollars in support of the care we provide. Reflecting on what she’d say to a person dealing with chronic pain, Bonnie’s twin triumphs of her healing and the three-mile swim embolden her message of endurance and compassion: “Don’t give in to chronic pain. Every time I hit a roadblock, I found a way around it. Be your own advocate. Keep looking to find the right people that can help you. I am living my life to the fullest because of Dr. Lawrence Lenke of Och Spine and the team of professionals at the NewYork-Presbyterian."
