Walt's Food Center cashier from Tinley takes a spill and finds the gift of life

A story submitted by the team at Palos Community Hospital

Noreen Peterson is not the type of person who lets much slow her down. Perhaps that's why she decided to venture down the stairs of her Tinley Park home at 3 a.m. on a dark December night in 2008 to get something to eat. Noreen, who just turned 70, has been an insulin-dependent type 1 diabetic since the age of 15, and if anything, being chronically ill has only fueled her spirit of determination.

Despite her age and history of bypass surgery at age 60, Noreen still cashiers three days a week at Walt's Food Center on Harlem Avenue in Tinley Park. She still drives her son, Neal, who struggles with hydrocephalus and has been legally blind for 10 years, to and from the Tinley train station so he can pursue his passion of playing percussion with the symphonies of Chicago.

She still dyes her hair red. And each year, she and her husband Bill produce and bottle their own wine. Well, except for last year.

Just 10 days before Christmas 2008, Noreen was awakened by what she quickly recognized as a reaction to low blood sugar. She was feeling cold and clammy, heart racing. She needed food. She got out of bed and headed for the stairs that would take her down to the kitchen, but you know what they say about that first step.

Noreen missed it. She fell the entire length of the split-level hardwood stair case. Noreen's husband came running when he heard the commotion, and he remembers her lying at the bottom of the stairs with her legs "twisted unnaturally." Noreen had a large gash in her head that required 13 stitches, along with a minor concussion. Her pelvis was broken in two places, and her right wrist was so severely crushed that today there's a pin and plate holding it together.

Noreen spent the next four months in either the hospital or a rehabilitation facility. With nursing care, she was able to return home in mid-April. That's when her condition took a turn for the worst.

While in rehab, Noreen had developed a diabetic ulcer on her foot. By the first of May, the infection was the size of a half-dollar. Her ankle had swollen to the size of her thigh, and the heat and redness were starting to travel up her leg. Her physician suspected that poor blood flow to her foot was preventing the ulcer from healing, and he suggested she see a specialist.

Noreen made an appointment with Dr. Sanjeev Pradhan, an Oak Lawn-based vascular surgeon, on Tuesday for the following Friday. But before she could keep that appointment, she was back in the hospital.

The infection was not only jeopardizing Noreen's leg but her life.

Noreen was diagnosed with peripheral artery disease (PAD), a form of cardiovascular disease that affects the limbs and a condition for which diabetics are at extremely high risk. Left untreated, Noreen probably would have lost her leg, at best. At worst, she could have suffered a debilitating or even fatal heart attack or stroke.

PAD affects between 8 and 12 million people in this country, and millions more may have the condition and not know it. That's a problem because people with clogged or weakened blood vessels have a six- to seven-times higher risk of heart attack and stroke. Even more unsettling: One third of those with vascular disease who have a heart attack or stroke die from it. Knowing what to look for before symptoms start can give both you and your physician a leg up on PAD.

"One of the main underlying causes of PAD is artherosclerosis, or hardening of the arteries," explains Dr. Pradhan, who specializes in both invasive and non-invasive treatments for vascular disease. "The person who has vascular disease more than likely also has heart disease, and vice versa."

But because PAD often is mistaken for simple leg pain or arthritis that the patient and doctor both may associate with aging, it can be much more difficult to detect, according to the AHA.

Noreen finally had her appointment with Dr. Pradhan after she was admitted to Palos Community Hospital because the infection on her foot was rapidly moving north. If something weren't done immediately, the ulcer could have cost her the leg, if not her life.

For Noreen, considering the severity of her infection, the extent of her blockage and the risk of losing her leg, surgery was the only option. Dr. Pradhan performed bypass surgery on May 20, using a plastic tube because Noreen's veins were too small for the procedure. Within a week, she was moved to a rehab facility, and on July 3, Noreen was able to go home.

With another three months of wound care and physical therapy, Noreen's ulcer finally healed, and she was able to return to her job and her life. Nearly 10 months after the fall that started it all, Noreen went back to her cashier position at Walt's on Oct, 19, and this year, she and her husband, Bill, are already making plans to bottle another batch of Peterson wine.

They are both humbled by the experience and grateful.

"I missed Christmas, New Year's, my birthday, my husband's birthday, Easter and Mother's Day," she says. "This year, I'm going to celebrate every holiday there is to the hilt!"

For more information, visit Palos Community Hospital's web site.