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Her whole life lay ahead of her and it looked like it was going to be everything she’d hoped for.
Caitlin Jensen (29) was on track to get her dream job in environmental management, was in a relationship with a guy she loved and was planning to move into her own home.
Then a visit to a chiropractor to sort out a crick in her neck changed everything.
“She was really tense because her studies [in biology and chemistry] had been really hard,” her mom, Darlene, says. “She was clenching her jaw kind of tight. And we thought maybe going to the chiropractor will just help loosen everything up.”
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Darlene convinced her reluctant daughter to go and minutes before her appointment they chatted on the phone about the jobs she was applying for and her weekend plans with her boyfriend.
Less than an hour later Caitlin had a stroke and a heart attack. Her vision is now impaired, she’s partially paralysed, unable to swallow or walk, and she only recently regained her ability to speak.
Darlene was shocked to receive a call from the chiropractic office in Richmond Hill in Georgia, US, where the Jensen family live. She works at a car repair shop near to the office and ran over to see her daughter being put into an ambulance.
“Her speech wasn’t right. She was sweaty and nauseous, she was vomiting. It didn’t occur to me that she was having a stroke,” Darlene says. “I didn’t expect a perfectly healthy young woman to be having a stroke.”
The stroke was followed by a heart attack and paramedics worked for 12 minutes to restore her pulse.
Caitlin was taken for emergency surgery and doctors found four arteries in her neck that supply blood from the heart to the brain had been torn.
They were able to repair some of the tears and placed a stent in one artery. But Caitlin also suffered a brain bleed, which caused a traumatic brain injury. She spent 72 hours in critical condition.
Darlene is devastated but knows the chiropractor in question, Dr TJ Harpham (43), didn’t do it deliberately. “He didn’t wake up that day thinking any of these things would occur,” she says. “He and his staff called 911 and started the process of getting Caitlin to hospital.”
Harpham contacted the family several times after the tragedy to find out how Caitlin was doing but he’s refused to speak publicly about what happened.
After the case started making headlines, he closed his practice and appears to have relocated to South Carolina.
Darlene says doctors have told her they believed the injury was a direct result of the neck manipulation, and Harpham’s medical insurance company paid a malpractice claim for an undisclosed amount without disputing it.
“But once the legal fees and everything else are paid, the amount of money for Caitlin’s life care isn’t even close to enough,” her mom says. “She’s only 29 years old. What are we going to do then? Most people assume we sued the chiropractor and were awarded millions of dollars, but that didn’t happen. That’s what should have happened. Caitlin certainly deserves that outcome.
“The reality is this is something you should be aware of, especially if you visit chiropractors. Many of them are grossly and shockingly underinsured.”
She’s been put off chiropractors, Darlene adds. “I think people should just avoid neck adjustments. And truthfully, I think chiropractors shouldn’t do them at all.”
Neurosurgeon Dr Betsy Grunch, who’s based in Georgia, treats one to two patients with arterial dissection – the medical term for the injury Caitlin suffered – every year. She told The New York Times there’s a clear connection bet-ween spinal manipulation and arterial dissection, and she discourages people from going for neck manipulation at a chiropractor.
Arterial tears are very rare and occur in one to three per 100 000 people a year, according to a Harvard Medical School report. They are, however, one of the most common causes of strokes in people under the age of 50.
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William Lauretti, a spokesman for the American Chiropractic Association, told The New York Times that if a patient goes to a chiropractor for neck pain treatment, the chiropractor needs to do thorough scans to avoid potential risks.
All this is too late for Caitlin. “Every day, I cannot believe the reality of our life,” Darlene says. “How can this have happened to my healthy, young, vibrant daughter?”
Darelene's heart just about broke when Caitlin relearnt to speak and said “Mom”, for the first time recently.
“She’s a fighter and she can do hard things,” Darlene says. “Caitlin is strong, disciplined and well-practised in exercising her brain and I truly believe her science background and all her time studying is going to help her in this long journey.”
Caitlin has undergone multiple operations since her stroke and heart attack last year. After spending two months in hospital, she was transferred to a specialist centre for speech, occupational, physical and recreational therapies.
In March, nine months after the incident, Darlene and Caitlin moved into a wheelchair-friendly home, which was donated to them last year by an anonymous donor and modified for Caitlin’s needs by Random Acts of Kindness Richmond Hill, a non-profit organisation.
Her family also have a GoFundMe account that has raised $169 640 (R3,12 million) to help pay for her medical bills.
“We’re doing well in our new home,” Darlene says. “I take Caitlin outside every day and she’s always happy out there.”
Caitlin still struggles with speech and needs to be fed through a tube but she’s rediscovering the things she loves, her mom says. She works on jigsaw puzzles and enjoys planting seedlings in the garden and spending time with her younger brother, Caleb.
The young woman, whose boyfriend left after she became ill, needs regular checkups and therapy sessions and there’s no telling if she’ll ever be able to manage without them. But her mom is determined to help her live a happy life.
“It was fun to watch Caitlin get to enjoy horticulture again,” Darlene says. “After therapy today, we went to a nursery to find a tree. We thought planting a tree would be a nice way to establish our roots in this home.” 
Check if your chiro is registered
There are strict protocols that chiropractors must follow when assessing patients, says Dr Michael Pritchard, president of the Chiropractic Association of South Africa (Casa). This includes doing a background check on the overall health of the patient as well as doing tests like X-rays, CT scans or MRIs where necessary.
He can’t comment on this particular case because “there are unknown facts”, he adds.
Anyone who’s considering going to a chiropractor needs to do research and checks before any treatment, experts urge. Chiropractors in South Africa aren’t necessarily medical doctors but to be registered they need to undergo a six-year training programme.
They’re registered with The Allied Health Professions Council of South Africa and Casa encourages people to check chiropractic.co.za to see if the chiropractor is registered.
Sources: dailymail.co.uk, facebook.com, independent.co.uk, health.harvard.edu/heart, nytimes.com
