Denniston Heading Into Surgery Tomorrow; Donations Welcomed

PHOENIX, Arizona, March 5. AS fans of his daily journal at DaveDenniston.com already know, former NCAA Champion Dave Denniston is undergoing surgery tomorrow morning to correct a spinal issue that is causing continued trouble with his rehabilitation.

In an e-mail to SwimmingWorldMagazine.com, Dave explained the specifics of the surgery and potential outcomes of the operation.

My surgery is scheduled tomorrow for 7:30 am at UCLA/Santa Monica. The procedure is being done because I have syrinx in my spinal cord that has traveled from my initial injury at the T10-T11 vertebrae up to the C2 vertebrae in my neck leaving me diagnosed with Syringomyelia. Which is why the entire left side of my body (in addition to my legs) has gone numb in the past four months. (I have not lost mobility.)

The surgery involves a laminectomy at T10-11, lysis of adhesions, duraplasty and possibly getting my current hardware removed. If the surgery is successful, I should regain feeling on the left side of my upper extremities. If it goes REALLY well, maybe I'll get more feeling back below my waist. (That's just hoping.)

The continued spinal problems have not been healthy for Dave's financial situation. With thousands of dollars already gone just to diagnose the syrinx as well as the 30 percent copay for surgeries costing in the thousands, Dave can use all the help he can get.

We'd like to request that any of our readers that can help in any way go to the National Transplant Assistance Fund & Catastrophic Injury Program's web site to make a tax-deductible donation that will go directly to Dave's medical costs and Project Walk rehabilitation. If you means and desire to help, click here to contribute to Dave's medical fund.

Also, for those that have scheduled speaking engagements and clinics with him, Dave wants to make sure everyone knows he still plans on attending and that nothing has been canceled.

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