Brenda's Story

Life-changing spine surgery gets marathon runner back on track

When it comes to fitness, Brenda Mack, of Northville, has practiced what she preaches for most of her life.

After becoming an aerobics instructor, she went back to school at age 30 and earned a Master’s Degree in Exercise Physiology. From there she went on to purchase the fitness company she previously worked for, transitioning her career to offer corporate and community fitness classes along with in-home personal training.

Falling in love with running

At age 40, Brenda started running and never looked back. “I thought if one of my clients wanted to run, I should be able to help them. None of them wanted to run, but I kept running. It became my passion: no equipment necessary, I could run anywhere and it was such a great stress reliever,” she notes.

In 2005, she challenged herself to run 100 miles in a month. After achieving that goal, she decided to continue running and train for a marathon. At age 48, Brenda ran her very first Detroit Free Press marathon. “I was hooked,” Brenda laughs. She went on to run 16 half marathons and 18 full marathons by September 2022.

Finding her calling running and raising funds

While preparing for the Air Force Marathon in 2022, Brenda did a long training run (12 miles) with a sex trafficking survivor, who was training for her first half marathon. Learning about the other woman’s experience sparked an interest in Brenda to help survivors of sex trafficking.

“I now train with a group called Love Runs, and we fundraise for victims and survivors of sex trafficking. All of our funds stay in Southeast Michigan, and I am proud to say that I was the second highest fundraiser this year,” Brenda said in 2023.

Her 18th marathon brought the “worst pain ever”

Two weeks after the Air Force Marathon, Brenda experienced pain that she never felt before.

“I got out of bed and fell to my knees,” she says. “I had the worst pain ever. We had a wedding that evening and we were spending the night downtown so I could cheer for my survivor the next day. Needless to say, I wasn't tearing up the dance floor and I barely got to the finish line to see her cross it.”

Brenda went to urgent care and got a cortisone and other medications, but they didn’t provide any relief. Her primary care physician diagnosed her with piriformis syndrome, a condition in which the piriformis muscle, located in the buttock region, spasms and causes buttock pain. She was prescribed physical therapy but that didn’t help either. “I couldn't do anything except lie on a heating pad and traction,” she recalls.

Neurologist neighbor to the rescue

Not satisfied with her treatment and how she was feeling, Brenda turned to her friend and Canadian cottage neighbor Lisa Rogers D.O., Henry Ford Health neurologist, for advice. After a clinical evaluation, Dr. Rogers referred her to Muwaffak Abdulhak, M.D., neurosurgeon who specializes in complex spine cases.

“As soon as I evaluated Brenda, I knew she was suffering from a lumbar radiculopathy -- a pinched nerve in the lumbar spine area. I obtained an urgent MRI scan which showed a combination of a disc herniation and arthritis. That is when I knew she needed to see a spine surgeon,” explains Dr. Rogers.

Benefitting from minimally invasive spine surgery

Dr. Abdulhak explains that Brenda was a good candidate for a spinal fusion procedure, where he would realign sections of the spine and decompress the affected nerves.

“We used a minimally invasive technique that offers a significantly smaller incision and less disruption of the back muscle,” Dr. Abdulhak notes. This, combined with intraoperative navigation that uses live CT scans, helped guide precision placement of special screws that are used to fuse two vertebrae into one bone.

“Will I be able to run again?”

Brenda felt fortunate that she was able to see Dr. Abdulhak, but she was worried with how the surgery would affect her ability to run in the future.

“The first thing I asked him was: Will I be able to run again? He didn't miss a beat, and said emphatically that he had no doubts that I would. I then told him that I would be gifting him my next marathon medal.”

Brenda admits that recuperating from surgery had its challenges, but she was careful to do everything Dr. Abdulhak instructed her to do. Her diligence paid off, and Dr. Abdulhak kept his promise, clearing her to resume running in May, 2023.

Brenda immediately started training for the full Detroit Free Press marathon, but then decided not to push it and backed down to the running the half marathon instead.

“That was a hard thing to do, as I identify as a ‘full’ marathon runner. But I did complete the Detroit Free Press International Half Marathon on October 15, 2023, almost 10 months to the day of my surgery. I didn’t achieve my best time, but I kept reminding myself that six months earlier I was using a walker,” she says.

Brenda expresses great gratitude for the staff at Henry Ford Health. She was so impressed with the level of care that she changed her primary care physician to one at Henry Ford Health to manage her care in the future.

“Everyone at Henry Ford, including the surgical team and post-surgery nurses, physician and medical assistants, physical therapists and occupational therapists were beyond amazing. I appreciated that my physical therapist kept a close eye on my running goals so I would not regress.”