“Before everything happened I had always dreamed of having a family,” said Kimberley. “I’m so excited and can’t wait!”

Kimberley’s journey began more than a decade ago when, at the age of 16, she was a passenger in a truck that rolled over. She was brought to HSC with extensive injuries – she broke every bone in her face except for her nose, her teeth were shattered and her back was broken. She was put in a drug induced coma for two weeks to reduce swelling in her brain.

As a result of the accident, Kimberley lost 40% of her hearing and surgery was recommended to attempt to restore her hearing. Having already endured five surgeries Kimberley was just not up to another one, and instead decided to learn to live with hearing loss.

In 2008 she began experiencing vertigo whenever she pressed on her left ear, her world spinning uncontrollably. She ignored it for as long as she could, but finally realized it was not going to go away. Her doctor referred her to Dr. Jordan Hochman at HSC’s Department of Otolaryngology.

Dr. Hochman diagnosed Kimberley with a cholesteatoma, a large destructive cyst that extended from her ear into the neck, brain and jaw. Kimberley was going to have another surgery after all. Her largest concern was the potential for the surgery to affect her facial nerves. The cholesteatoma completely encased the nerve in the ear bone, and injury to the nerve could cause the left side of her face to sag or even be permanently paralyzed.

HSC had recently acquired a nerve monitor to assist doctors in recognizing when they were getting close to touching facial nerves. Thankfully, this technology was available in time for Kimberley’s surgery and, in September 2009, Kimberley was admitted to HSC where Dr. Hochman removed the cyst – the largest he had ever seen.

When Kimberley woke up after the surgery, the first thing she did was blink her eyes and try to smile to make sure her facial nerves were okay. Not only were the facial muscles intact, but the vertigo was gone.

Kimberley wishes that everyone would realize how lucky we are to have people like Dr. Hochman and the staff at HSC, who are committed to providing quality care for everyone who walks through the doors of HSC.