Oncologist from Grand Junction Finds Life Changing Spine Care at AdventHealth Avista

Dr. JoAnne Virgilio is an oncologist who has been practicing in Grand Junction for nearly 40 years. Her passion for patient care is palpable; the hospital where she practices recently opened an infusion center named in her honor. Dr. Virgilio and her husband, George - a retired orthopedic surgeon - enjoy spending time with their adult triplets, Megan, Kali, and George.

Dr. Virgilio has experienced symptoms from her severe cervical myelopathy for more than a decade. Cervical myelopathy is a condition where the spinal cord is compressed - in Dr. Virgilio’s case, this compression of her spinal cord was caused by her spine curving the wrong way, which was made even more complicated by the fact that much of her spine had fused itself in that position.

For Dr. Virgilio, the symptoms started with a gait disturbance (trouble walking). Recently, she began to experience more debilitating symptoms like neuropathy (pain and numbness) and extremity muscle atrophy (muscle loss) and weakness. The combination of struggling to walk, the weakness in her legs, and the neuropathy in her extremities made day-to-day life extremely challenging. Dr. Virgilio and her husband sought the advice of multiple expert providers concerning treatment options.

Thankfully, through their network of friends and colleagues, Dr. Virgilio learned about Dr. Jacob Rumley, a board-certified orthopedic surgeon who is fellowship-trained in spine surgery. Upon visiting Dr. Rumley for the first time, Dr. Virgilio asked if she could show Dr. Rumley the severe leg weakness that she experiences every day. Dr. Rumley validated everything that Dr. Virgilio had gone through up to that point, and after reviewing her imaging studies together, Dr. Rumley shared how he would operate to stabilize and likely improve her condition.

Dr. Rumley bestowed a new level of confidence upon Dr. Virgilio and reinforced her choice in coming all the way from Grand Junction to Louisville for surgery. “We knew that this was a very complex case and she had seen many other excellent spine surgeons,” said Dr. Rumley. “The greatest gift as a surgeon is to restore hope. This is why I train spinal fellows and do these highly complex cases.”

Dr. Rumley and his team performed Dr. Virgilio’s surgery in two phases. In the first phase, they were able to decompress the spinal cord from her spine by removing a large portion of the front of her spine and place a small cage, helping to correct the curvature. In the second phase, they further corrected the curvature by placing screws and two rods to the backside of her spine to keep everything in place. “It is humbling to have a doctor of her reputation trust me as she chose to travel for this surgery,” said Dr. Rumley. “It is such an honor to help such a wonderful person.”

A few days after both surgeries were completed, Dr. Virgilio headed back home to Grand Junction to start on her road to recovery. “I hope she continues to heal and now can focus on her passion of healing her cancer patients,” said Dr. Rumley.

AdventHealth Avista takes pride in providing its patients with compassionate physicians who are dedicated to treating the whole person, all within a community hospital equipped with highly advanced technology including the 7D surgical navigation system. This technology is a radiation-free alternative to traditional image guided surgery. “We are able to provide world class spine care with true state of the art technology,” said Dr. Rumley. “With these technologies many of the risks are further reduced. We are a team of surgeons, PAs, nurses and administrators that have patient care as our only focus.”

AdventHealth Avista is proud to be the only hospital in Colorado that has been designated as an Advanced Orthopedic and Spine Center of Excellence from DNV Healthcare. The designation of ‘Advanced Orthopedic and Spine Center of Excellence’, has only been given to 12 hospitals worldwide. If you or a loved one is living with back pain, click here or scan the QR code below to schedule an appointment with Dr. Rumley.