Helen
Helen lives in Lakeland, FL. She is a retired nurse, a cancer and heart attack survivor, and a past member of the Senior Games Bowling Team – with five gold medal trophies to prove it. Helen is 91 years old and recently joined a bowling league to mark her return to the sport. She's bowling at 115. But from mid-2004 until late-2005, Helen was unable to bowl, or walk or drive. She began to have problems with dementia and urinary incontinence. Her son, Pat, left his college teaching job to care for her.

"I had to use a walker," Helen said. "I couldn't do much for myself." Her problems began in the summer of 2004: This once independent, active woman saw her health and abilities decline. But then a chance viewing of a man on the television show changed everything. Helen and her son watched a 60 Minutes segment featuring Bob Fowler, spokesman for Life NPH. Helen had the three symptoms of Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus (NPH) that Bob described – problems walking (a magnetic gait), dementia, and urinary incontinence. She and her son thought that maybe Helen was suffering from NPH, too.

So she went to her primary care physician (PCP) of 20 years and asked for a CT scan; it was mentioned in the segment as a tool in diagnosing the disease state of NPH. However, the scan didn't indicate NPH to the radiologist who read it. Her PCP referred her to a urologist for treatment of the urinary incontinence problem but, while some improvement was achieved, the problem kept returning. Helen's PCP also made a referral to a neurologist for her other symptoms. Unfortunately, as frequently happens, the neurologist diagnosed Helen's symptoms as simply old age. A referral for physical therapy treatments for her walking issues didn't result in any improvements. She returned to the neurologist who told Helen he had done all he could do.

Fortunately, Helen and her son pursued their case. After seeing the Life NPH commercials, they called the 800-number and requested the literature and checklist. Helen brought it to her PCP, who referred her to a neurosurgeon. A second radiologist reviewed the CT scan and read the possibility of NPH. An MRI was done and it confirmed that Helen had NPH. In August of 2005, Helen had surgery to implant a CODMAN® Hakim™ Programmable Valve. Her symptoms stopped almost immediately and for six weeks she was back to her old self.

But then Helen developed a blood clot. Her valve had to be drained and replaced in another surgical procedure that hospitalized her for a week. Helen emerged from that in fine form, all of her symptoms are gone and she hasn't looked back. "My next door neighbor thought I was a miracle," she said. "She never thought I was going to leave my house on my own again."

In the months since her treatment, Helen has taken up driving again, traveled alone back to her native state of Ohio, and returned to independent living. Pat has returned to his job as a college professor. Helen's PCP told her he now recognizes the symptoms of NPH and, since seeing Helen's progress, has made several neurology referrals for patients he believes might have NPH.

In the summer of 2006 Helen joined a bowling league and began to work on her game. Her goal is to participate in the next national Senior Games, in March of 2007. She still has some room on her trophy shelf.

While most experts say that approximately 375,000 people have NPH, estimates have ranged from about 200,000 to 750,000 cases of NPH. Hospital discharge data shows that only about 11,500 cases a year are currently diagnosed and treated with surgical implantation of a shunt. Since NPH is often mistaken for other conditions, most cases of NPH go unreported and many are left untreated. Only a specialist can properly diagnose NPH. Surgery is not for everyone. There are potential risks and complications; recovery may take time.

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