Latest news with #Wagner
Newsweek
a day ago
- Health
- Newsweek
Woman Told Back Pain Is From Bad Posture—Then Comes Devastating Diagnosis
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. A woman who struggled with back pain for months was told it was just bad posture—but then an MRI scan revealed the shocking truth. Like many people, Lauren Wagner thought her back ache was caused by hunching over a desk all day long for work. Wagner, of Ontario, Canada, told Newsweek that she "didn't think much of it" because the problems started in 2020, just when most office employees transitioned to remote working. As she didn't have the same ergonomic setup at home, Wagner, 29, assumed that was the reason for her back pain. But, as the months went by, it became more debilitating, so Wagner went to the doctor to get a second opinion. Unfortunately, they agreed that it was just bad posture and nothing more. From left: Lauren Wagner waves to the camera in hospital before her diagnosis in 2020; enjoys the outdoors. From left: Lauren Wagner waves to the camera in hospital before her diagnosis in 2020; enjoys the outdoors. @laurenwaggs / TikTok "I believed the doctors at first because my workstation at home wasn't ergonomically friendly. But, once I got a new chair and made other changes, it quickly became evident that wasn't the issue," Wagner said. "The pain was constant and getting worse, no matter what adjustments I made. I figured my posture could've been better, but, deep down, I knew it couldn't explain the level of discomfort I was in," she continued. Not only was Wagner struggling with severe back pain, but after a few months, she started to develop numbness and weakness in her arms and hands. Her grip strength was also significantly reduced by this point. As she didn't feel as if medical professionals were taking her concerns seriously, Wagner arranged to see a chiropractor instead. Indeed, she was "very concerned" about the pain Wagner was experiencing and referred her for scans. "She sent me for X-rays, which didn't show anything alarming. So, she strongly recommended an MRI, which I had in August 2020, and that's when they found a large destructive mass on my spine," Wagner said. The MRI scan also highlighted just how much damage had been caused by the spinal tumor. It had collapsed Wagner's vertebrae and was growing into her spinal cord. She said: "I was definitely overwhelmed and scared, but, honestly, the biggest emotion I felt was relief. Finally having an answer validated what I had been feeling all along." Wagner was diagnosed with giant cell tumor of bone, rare and aggressive but noncancerous. They typically grow at the end of long bones in the body, such as the end of the femur, upper end of the tibia, or close to the knee joint. The American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons says that most giant cell tumors affect patients between the ages of 20 and 40, only occurring in one out of every 1 million people per year. The origin of these tumors is unknown, but they commonly cause pain in the affected area and in the nearby joint. While the pain may start off mild, it usually gets worse as the tumor grows. In some instances, the bone is so weakened that it can break. Wagner's case was considered very complex since the tumor was growing in the spine. She was referred to one of the only spinal surgeons in Canada who was willing to treat her. MRI scans showing the damage to Wagner's vertebrae before and after the spinal tumor was removed. MRI scans showing the damage to Wagner's vertebrae before and after the spinal tumor was removed. @laurenwaggs / TikTok Wagner was given medication to stop the tumor's growth and to calcify it, which would make it easier to surgically remove. The treatment lasted for almost a year before she could finally undergo surgery in August 2021. "It was an extremely extensive 23-hour spinal surgery to remove the tumor and reconstruct my spine from C2 to T6," Wagner said. "Unfortunately, I experienced serious complications afterward, including bleeding on my spine, upper extremity and vocal cord paralysis, pneumonia, and sepsis." In the six months after the first surgery, Wagner underwent five more complex spinal procedures to address the complications. She also had two hand surgeries, one in 2022 and the other in 2023, due to the severe nerve damage that happened as a result. Her first spinal surgery involved inserting a metal plate into her spine; unfortunately, things went awry when it "tore through" Wagner's esophagus and she developed sepsis. She added emergency surgery to her lengthy tally as the hardware needed to be removed swiftly, and the infection cleaned out. "It was one of the most terrifying parts of my journey," Wagner said. It is likely that Wagner may need further surgeries in the future, but for now, she is trying to adapt to her new normal. She is monitored closely for any signs of recurrence and to ensure the spinal fusion is stable. Wagner has been tumor free for almost four years, although she lives with chronic pain, migraines, and nerve damage in her hands. Nonetheless, she is "grateful to still be here" after her devastating diagnosis. As she recovers from her rare spinal tumor, Wagner has started documenting her journey on social media (@laurenwaggs on TikTok) to raise awareness. It has provided her with an incredible platform to share her story and connect with others. "When I was first diagnosed, I felt extremely alone. I wanted to be a beacon of hope for others going through difficult journeys, because I know how isolating it feels. Over time, I've realized how important it is to raise awareness, especially for rare diseases, chronic illness, and conditions like sepsis," Wagner said. "Knowledge really is power, and the more we talk about these things, the more likely people are to recognize warning signs. We know our own bodies best, and it's so important to keep pushing for answers when something doesn't feel right." Is there a health issue that's worrying you? Let us know via health@ We can ask experts for advice, and your story could be featured on Newsweek.
USA Today
2 days ago
- Sport
- USA Today
Seahawks legend makes Pro Football Focus' \
Pro Football Focus recently compiled a list of 10 late-career NFL veterans who are still playing at a high level. Former Seattle Seahawks linebacker Bobby Wagner made the prestigious list. Wagner has extended his Hall of Fame-worthy career with the Seattle Seahawks. "Despite playing more than 14,000 snaps in his 13-year career, Wagner is showing no signs of slowing down," Ryan Smith wrote. "Offensive Rookie of the Year Jayden Daniels received a lot of the headlines amid the Commanders' impressive turnaround last season, and deservedly so, but Wagner's impact on the defense in his first year with the team should not go unheralded." "Wagner's 88.3 PFF overall grade ranked third out of 84 qualifying linebackers, and he led the position in PFF pass-rush grade (90.9) and ranked second in PFF run-defense grade (91.2)," Smith continued. "It was his third straight year of earning a PFF run-defense grade higher than 91.0." Wagner recorded 132 tackles for the Commanders this past season en route to helping them to a surprise NFC Championship Game appearance. Wagner returned to the Seahawks in 2023 after departing the team after an illustrious 10-season (2012-21) run with the franchise. In 2023, he totaled a career-high 183 tackles. Wagner is a 10-time Pro Bowler, six-time First-Team All-Pro selection, Super Bowl (XLVIII) winner, and future Seahawks Ring of Honor member. It's great to see him still playing at such a high level.
Time of India
2 days ago
- Politics
- Time of India
Death toll at Bangui school stampede revised to 20: government, ET Education
Advt Join the community of 2M+ industry professionals. Subscribe to Newsletter to get latest insights & analysis in your inbox. Get updates on your preferred social platform Follow us for the latest news, insider access to events and more. Bangui: The death toll from a stampede during high school exams in the Central African Republic has been lowered to 20, officials said Saturday, from an earlier count of stampede started after the explosion of a power transformer at Barthelemy Boganda high school in Bangui on Wednesday 5,300 pupils were sitting the second day of the baccalaureate exams at the time of the incident."Twenty deaths have been recorded among our youth in various morgues," Communication Minister Maxime Balalou added 65 remained in hospital for observation as of Thursday, including four in critical said the head of one of the two exam centres at the Barthelemy Boganda high school had died "due to illness linked to the event".Panicked students and staff scrambled to escape, with some leaping from the school's first floor, witnesses students were rushed to hospital by ambulance, pickup truck and motorbike taxi, according to AFP reporters at the Faustin Archange Touadera, attending a Gavi vaccine summit in Brussels, declared three days of national mourning The CAR is among the poorest countries in the world. Since independence from France in 1960 it has endured a succession of coups, authoritarian rulers and civil latest civil war started more than a decade government has secured the main cities and violence has subsided in recent fighting occasionally erupts in remote regions between rebels and the national army, which is backed by Wagner mercenaries and Rwandan troops.
Telegraph
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
Pelléas et Mélisande, Longborough Festival, review: Opera at its most intoxicating
In the wake of their recent small-scale stagings of Wagner's Ring cycle, under the outstanding musical direction of Wagner supremo Anthony Negus, it makes sense for him to tackle Debussy. After all, the French composer's 1902 operatic adaptation of Maurice Maeterlinck's play was profoundly influenced by his experience of Wagner's music-drama. Now, in doing so successfully, Longborough have demonstrated a way to move forward. Heavy with symbolism, the story of Debussy's intoxicating opera is essentially a simple love triangle in which the developing, overwhelming love of Pelléas and Mélisande threatens her enigmatic marriage to Pelléas's half-brother Golaud and leads, in the end, to the murder of Pelléas and the death of Mélisande. But around this swirls a host of allusive episodes linked by Debussy's unique through-composed score, a continuous narrative of suppressed passion and lurking danger with no conventional operatic arias or ensembles. Picking up on the frequent references in the text to light and dark, Jenny Ogilvie's staging (designer Max Johns, lighting Peter Small) is dominated by lights with an alarming life of their own: a moving neon strip for the pool by which Golaud and Mélisande first meet, swinging spotlights across the stage, dazzling crossbeams for moonlight, an illuminated swing on which Mélisande becomes entangled with Pelléas. However, this becomes overdone towards the end, as the equipment has to be dragged on and off stage by silent servants, while the concept of Mélisande's baby portrayed as a light should be rethought. But all this frames a perfectly intelligible telling of the story, against a threatening moving back wall of concealed steps and hiding places, where the young Yniold (the excellent Nia Coleman), Golaud's child by his first marriage, can constantly lurk unobserved, and then be used by his jealous father to spy on the lovers. As Golaud, lost at the beginning of the opera, despairing at the end, Brett Polegato captures perfectly the intensity of Debussy's writing but also its restraint. There is strong support from Julian Close's sonorous Arkel and Pauls Putnins's disturbing Doctor. The central couple are not perfectly matched: Karim Sulayman's Pelléas is well sculpted, the words crystal clear, but there is just not enough voice to sustain the role. But Ukrainian-German soprano Kateryna Kasper as Mélisande is an outstanding discovery here, with a voice fuller and richer than we may be used to in this role, but wonderfully rounded, full of anxiety, and heart-rending at her death, prostrate in a glass box (recalling the sleeping Tilda Swinton at the Serpentine all those years ago). Mélisande's hair is not long, there is no tall tower from which to drape it: our imaginations have to work overtime to conjure up these scenes, but Negus realises Debussy's storytelling precisely, especially in the vivid interludes. At first I feared he would be too overtly dramatic, and it is true that there is an element of translucence and stasis missing here. But the orchestral playing is very fine, and bodes well for Longborough's future expansion of the repertory.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Chicopee Councilor Tim Wagner resigns, moving to Boston area
CHICOPEE — Tim Wagner, the Chicopee at-large city councilor who previously said he would not seek reelection, announced he would leave before the end of his term. Wagner, who sat on the Chicopee City Council since January 2024, told The Republican Wednesday he's moving to the greater Boston area for a new job opportunity and 'to be closer to the people I care about.' He said he had submitted his resignation with the City Clerk's Office, and is looking at ways to donate his pay from July and August. He will officially leave the council by the end of August, he said. 'I don't think it's fair to take the full pay if I am unable to fully help my constituents,' he said. Wagner said he would donate two months of his pay to Lorraine's Soup Kitchen and Pantry, the Boys and Girls Club and the senior center. In a social media post on June 19, Wagner asked residents to contact other city councilors for assistance, but 'I will still do my best to assist those who reach out,' he wrote, adding that he planned to continue to attend City Council meetings. Earlier this year, Wagner announced he would not be running for re-election come November. The 22-year-old directed that decision at having 'a lot of life left to live.' Wagner was elected to the council in the 2023 municipal election. Before that, he served on the School Committee representing Ward 1. The young politician said he was proud of a lot of the work he has done while on the council, including restoring an economic development position to the city, adopting a 'long needed' master plan for Chicopee and proposing significant reforms. 'These were substantial efforts, but there is still more to do,' he said in a statement at a January council meeting. Wagner is asking constituents to reach out to the other at-large councilors, Frank LaFlamme and Jerry Roy, or to their ward representatives for any assistance. 'I'm grateful to the residents for this opportunity to serve on the council,' Wagner said. When reached by phone Wednesday, LaFlamme, who is also council president, said Wagner 'always did what he believed was right as an at-large councilor.' 'Sometimes we agreed and sometimes we disagreed, but he always did what he thought was right,' LaFlamme said. The council president said he heard the news about Wagner wanting to resign over the weekend. The young at-large councilor will continue to serve until the end of August, LaFlamme said. After that, LaFlamme will put a question about filling the vacancy to a vote with the other councilors, he said. In March, after Robert Zygarowski, who was vice president of the council, died, the council voted not to fill his vacant position. Judge: Case for Pittsfield woman suing car repo company can move to trial Red, white and blue: The Republican's top movie recommendations for the Fourth of July New Valley Bank sues Springfield after eminent domain taking at DPW's landlocked warehouse Cyanobacteria bloom prompts warning about this Western Mass. pond Read the original article on MassLive.
