McAlester News-Capital, McAlester, OK

Local News

September 29, 2007

News-Capital editor subject of ‘Miracle Minute’ on Channel 8

By James Beaty

When he started recovering from brain surgery earlier this year, McAlester News-Capital Editor Matt Lane said the experience seemed miraculous.

Before the surgery, he had lost 90 percent of the vision in his left eye and from 20 to 30 percent of the vision in his right eye.

He still recalls what happened following his surgery as he regained consciousness last April in the recovery room at St. John Medical Center in Tulsa.

“I remember waking up in the recovery room and people were smiling,” Lane said.

“What struck me about it was I could see them.”

The experience made a strong impression on him.

“Probably the most humbling thing I’ve ever felt was to open my eyes and realize I was the beneficiary of a miracle straight from God.”

Lane apparently isn’t the only one who considered his recovery miraculous. Last week, a crew from KTUL Channel 8 in Tulsa drove to McAlester to videotape an interview with Lane to be telecast as one of the “Miracle Minutes” segments featuring the St. John Medical Center.

With Photojournalist Richard Powell handling the lights and camera, and with Kenna Dean, of the Community Relations Department at St. John looking on, Anne Frazier of Channel 8 directed an interview with Lane in a room at the News-Capital.

The segment is expected to air in mid-to-late October or possibly November.

Lane believes he would have gone blind without the surgery performed by Dr. Patrick Han, a neurosurgeon at the Neurosurgical Institute at St. John Medical Center.

“In the last two months before the surgery, it was like a curtain coming down,” said Lane, who said he had difficulty seeing in bright sunlight at times.

With his vision worsening, Lane saw his family physician, Dr. Nelson Onaro, who referred him to Optometrist Dr. Jeffrey Duff.

Duff suggested that Lane see an ophthalmologist, which led to an examination by Dr. James Dunagin.

Dunagin then referred Lane to Dr. Han.

Han discovered Lane had a condition known as craniopharyngioma, which is the presence of a benign tumor close to the pituitary gland, the small gland at the base of the brain. An MRI detected the tumor pressing on the optic nerves and causing the vision loss.

“I wasn’t afraid of dying, but I was afraid of going blind,” Lane said.

Han and the doctor’s assistant, Nurse Practitioner Andrea Whittington, quickly scheduled Lane for surgery. He had no guarantee that his sight would be restored or that the surgery would be successful.

It took four hours to complete.

“The surgery requires work under high magnification with a microscope to gently remove the tumor away from critical structures, such as the optic nerve,” Han said afterward. “This meticulous technique is why it takes several hours.”

Lane told the Channel 8 crew it had been a humbling experience to go through with his family, Dr. Han and Whittington.

“I doubt that I could have made it without Dr. Han and Andrea Whittington and the rest of his staff,” Lane said.

He said he now sees better than before the onset of the illness, “Thanks to God, my family, St. John and some great doctors and nurses.

“With the people at St. John, Dr. Han and his staff, it’s not just a job,” Lane said.

“St. John was great.”

Contact James Beaty at jbeaty@mcalesternews.com.

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