Bay Area woman defies odds after spinal cord surgery to remove tumor found after minor crash

TAMPA, Fla. - One woman never expected that a minor car accident could help save her life.

Britta Devitt was in a crash in the summer of 2022.

"I was having some neck and back pain before the car accident, so I did go see a doctor, and they were doing some treatment on it, they did an X-Ray and like, you know, things looked okay," Devitt said.

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But, Devitt said she was still having some neck pain, so her doctors suggested she get an MRI. After some testing, she said doctors discovered a mass on her spine, which then led her to Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa.

Dr. Andre Beer Furlan, a neurosurgeon at Moffitt, said the scans showed an intramedullary spinal cord tumor in Devitt’s spinal cord.

"The location of her tumor was very high up on the cervical spinal cord," Dr. Beer Furlan said. "So that could impact both upper and lower extremity function."

Dr. Beer Furlan said Devitt’s case was not common.

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When Devitt learned she had a tumor, she was angry, scared and upset, because she lives such an active life. Her life came to a halt when she had to have surgery.

"My life revolves around using my body," Devitt said. "I teach dance. I love running."

Had Devitt not gotten the MRI, she likely wouldn’t have known she had this tumor.

"The neurosurgeon basically said that the car accident was a good thing," she said. "It was kind of one of those wake up moments."

Dr. Beer Furlan said Devitt couldn’t ignore this, and needed surgery to remove the tumor. In November 2022, he said surgeons operated under the microscope for hours to fully remove the tumor.

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But, Devitt was far from the finish line with a long road to recovery just getting started.

"I had to relearn how to walk," Devitt said. "I had to relearn how to feed myself, because it affected my hands a lot, so I couldn't grip a fork. I would drop things."

Knowing she was a runner and a dance teacher, Devitt’s neurosurgeon tried to explain her recovery in a way he does with a lot of his patients.

"A neurological recovery is like a marathon, right?" Dr. Beer Furlan said.

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Before her surgery, Devitt was training for a 50k race.

"So of course, I asked my neurosurgeon like, ‘Hey, I have a race in November, can I still do that?’" She said. "And he's like, I remember, he took a deep breath, and he paused, and he's like, ‘Not right now.’ Like, ‘One day, but not right now.’"

But around a year after her surgery, a different day came, where Devitt accomplished a huge goal.

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"She really overcame all the expectations," Dr. Beer Furlan said. "She's a really driven person, really set herself those goals. And when she asked me, ‘Can I can I start running?’ I was like, ‘Yes, you're good to go.’"

In November, Devitt ran a 100-mile race around Tampa Bay, and she crossed the finish line in 37.5 hours.

She hopes her journey and recovery serves as a reminder for people going through challenges – to keep their faith and persevere.

"We're all going to go through hard things in our life," she said. "All of us. And this was kind of like my hard thing, and that there's good that can come out of it."

Devitt is still facing impacts from her surgery, like neuropathy and other physical changes in her body. But, she is determined to keep pushing through the tough times to stay active and do the things she loves to do.