A Roller Skating Accident Left Her Critically Injured

It had been 40 years since Susan Silverman had been roller skating, she says, “but I was really good at it when I was a kid.”

So one Sunday afternoon, urged on by her grandkids Cooper and Lyla, the 73-year-old New Jersey woman strapped on a pair of skates and stepped onto the floor at an East Stroudsburg roller rink.

Within seconds, the family outing would end in tragedy, with a fall hard enough to cause a life-threatening head injury and more. 

But that’s when Silverman’s luck started to change. 

Within hours, she had been evaluated at nearby Lehigh Valley Hospital (LVH)–Pocono, transferred urgently to LVH–Muhlenberg and was undergoing emergency brain surgery to relieve the pressure building up under her skull.

Today, thanks to the trauma team at Lehigh Valley Health Network, part of Jefferson Health, Silverman has nearly fully recovered. 

Silverman had a large subdural hematoma on the left side with mass effect, meaning the pressure was building up inside her skull and putting enough force on the brain to actually cause brain tissue to shift. 

Kathryn Wheel, MD, the trauma surgeon on duty that day at LVH–Muhlenberg, arranged for the ambulance crew to take Silverman directly to the CT scanner on arrival from LVH–Pocono. Dr. Wheel had already alerted neurosurgeon Andrew Tsen, MD. 

The surgeons quickly upgraded Silverman’s condition to Neuro Code Red. It was a life-threating neurosurgical emergency and Silverman was taken straight to the operating room for a procedure by Dr. Tsen to relieve the pressure on her brain.

“For most of the first week after her surgery, we were very optimistic,” says Susan’s husband, Jeff Silverman. “Then she got pneumonia in both lungs.”

The team started her on antibiotics to deal with the pneumonia, Dr. Wheel says, “but unfortunately her status worsened and she developed acute respiratory distress syndrome.” She would need specialized ventilator therapy to help clear her lungs, Dr. Wheel says. 

Silverman was in ICU for nearly five weeks. Gradually, and with the unwavering support of her family, Silverman’s condition improved. Her pneumonia cleared, and her rib fractures from the fall had healed. 

Silverman was finally well enough to be moved to an in-patient rehabilitation facility near her home. There she began to work on the lingering effects of her injury, including extreme weakness in her right arm and foot muscles.

“At LVH–Muhlenberg, our trauma team delivers expert, compassionate care around the clock,” says Dr. Wheel. “We stand with trauma survivors and their families from the first critical moments right through recovery, ensuring they feel supported and informed and that they never feel alone.”

Today, after months of rehabilitation, and with hard work and perseverance, Silverman figures that she is about “95 percent recovered.” Her walking continues to improve, she is regaining full use of her limbs and she has resumed driving.

 “I’m basically better now,” she says, a little more than a year after her fall. 

“Susan received excellent care at Lehigh Valley Health Network,” says her husband. “Everyone was helpful, caring and knowledgeable. They worked really hard to bring her back from this.”