Taralea Johnson

Taralea began experiencing leg pain several years ago and went to a chiropractor to see what was the cause was. She was told at the time the pain was caused by sciatica. In 2017 Taralea began experiencing other issues and ended up in an emergency room in Ocala. Testing showed that she had a tumor in her spine and she was rushed out of the Ocala area for surgery. She said the eight hour surgery to remove the tumor in 2017 was "excruciating" and it was the worst pain she had ever experienced. Taralea was told by her surgeon in 2017 that she "should be in the clear" moving forward.

However, in May of this year she began experiencing some of the same issues along with the familiar leg pain. Taralea first went to her primary care doctor, who referred her to a kidney specialist, who referred her to a GYN, who then referred her to Dr. Reddy with Ocala Neurological Specialists.

Dr. Reddy immediately asked for all her records both before and after her previous surgery so he would have a good idea of what Taralea's history had been. She was able to obtain those records and met with Dr. Reddy the same week. Dr. Reddy told Taralea she would need to have surgery again. Taralea had a benign tumor inside her spinal cord. The surgery would resect the tumor and improve her spinal cord function.

Following the surgery Taralea said "this (surgery) is like a walk in the park compared to what I went through before. It is amazing to have such an awesome doctor who knows what he is doing be able to remove a tumor from my spine." Taralea was in the hospital only three days after her surgery and said she is truly "shocked and surprised" and how comfortable she felt after the surgery. While Taralea still has some recovering to do, she said that she is "very hopeful" and cannot speak high enough of Dr. Reddy and his team who made this experience a positive one for her.

Taralea was hesitant about having the surgery because of her previous experience but knew it had to be done. While she had some anxiety surrounding the surgery, she said the morning of her surgery she prayed and received an "image of the operating room with the physician and Him guiding his hands. I went into that operating room feeling God's arms embrace me covering me and continued to feel His protection after I awoke from surgery."