As a child, Amy Batchelor says she was athletic. She was in gymnastics and throughout her adult life water skied, jet skied, had three kids, lifted a lot and picked up a lot of heavy things. As a result, her back experienced a lot of trauma and she had compressed nerves and herniated discs.

In 2010, she had a small surgery to fix one of the discs that was herniated and although the doctor fixed the problem, her experience left a bad taste in her mouth. She felt like a number; that she came in and came out like a factory.

Fast forward to 2017, Amy woke up one morning with severe pain running down her leg. She was worried and scared.

“I talked to a friend and she recommended Dr. Stephen Courtney to me. He had done surgery on her neck and she felt like it saved her life. I called Dr. Courtney and took the first appointment they had,” says Amy.

“I met with Dr. Courtney and his staff and Dr. Courtney was so kind and personable to me and took me seriously. He started me on a regimen of medication but instead of seeing an improvement I saw an increase in the pain. And the pain was so severe I remember thinking to myself: ‘I can’t live like this. If I have to live like this I don’t want to live.’ I called Dr. Courtney’s office and they helped me work through the pain with different medications,” continued Amy.

About a week later, Amy had an MRI. The results of the MRI showed that surgery was the only option. Dr. Courtney’s staff worked with Amy’s insurance company quickly to get the surgery approved.

“The day of the surgery is kind of foggy for me because I was still in so much pain. The staff was excellent and they took great care of me. When I woke up from the surgery, I felt like the weight of the world was lifted off of my shoulders. For the first time in a month I was pain free. I was able to go back to work after about three weeks of staying home and resting. I could take care of my children. I could take short walks. I felt strong. And I felt hope – that I can live and be a mom and love my family,” said Amy.

“My experience with Dr. Courtney’s office was much different than what I experienced in the past. I feel like they really cared about me and were concerned about me and showed compassion for me. I’m sure there are thousands of people that come in their office every day with pain and they still showed compassion for me. They took me seriously and really, really helped me. So many people have asked how I am doing after my surgery. I’ve referred Dr. Courtney to people who have asked about my recovery. I would tell anyone to go see Dr. Courtney. He saved my life,” said Amy.

To learn more about Dr. Stephen Courtney and Advanced Spine Center, visit advancedspinecenters.com.