Betty Raulston had not been to a hospital in 40 years when she collapsed in her
Bridgeport, Ala. home in October 2005. “I felt a numbing sensation on my right
side, down my leg; I couldn’t see, couldn’t walk, couldn’t make a fist and felt
nauseated,” she recalled.
When paramedics arrived they called LIFE FORCE, telling her husband, “We’re
not going to take any chances; she’s going to Erlanger.”
At Erlanger Betty learned she had a 95% blockage in a major brain artery and
had suffered a mini-stroke. In her case, clot-dissolving drugs didn’t help and
brain surgery was not a viable option. A second mini-stroke brought her back to
Erlanger within weeks of the first, leaving Betty and her family worried about
They soon learned the FDA had just approved a new device which could be
inserted into one’s brain artery to restore blood flow. Very few specialists in
very few hospitals performed this intricate procedure, but Betty Raulston was in
the right place, at the right time – at Erlanger.
On November 30, 2005 she became the first person in the southeast to undergo
this breakthrough stroke treatment, at the skilled hands of interventional
radiologist, Dr. Blaise Baxter, and neurologist, Dr. Thomas Devlin.
Grateful for her improved health, Betty says, “I feel so blessed and so
thankful. There’s some wonderful treatment at Erlanger.”