Marion woman seeks surgery for degenerative disc disease

Tara Nurre just wants her life back. Diagnosed with degenerative disc disease, the Marion mother of three has lived with pain for the past five years. Simple chores like laundry or vacuuming are exhausting and even turning her head can be difficult. Because she is only 33, surgery to fuse the spinal discs in her neck is not recommended and steroid epidural injections have not relieved the pain. Nurre underwent two surgeries at a clinic in Florida, but the pain continued. As a last resort, she is seeking treatment at a hospital in Germany, which offers an artificial disc replacement that is unavailable in the United States. The M6 artificial cervical disc was developed in the U.S., but is still undergoing review by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Nurre said the disc has something those available here do not: compression. “It acts just like a real disc,” she said. A part-time employee at the Marion Hy-Vee Starbucks, Nurre and her husband, Mike, 40, a Whirlpool Corp. employee, are raising money for the trip with the help of friends, employers and the Knights of Columbus. She said the procedure at Bremen's Stenum Hospital, along with a two-weeks stay, will cost $45,000 or more, depending on how many discs are replaced. Nurre said she doesn't fear going overseas for surgery. She's been in touch with an American who had the surgery there, with excellent results. Nurre hopes to raise enough money to go to Germany for the procedure this summer. “I would love to be able to go swimming with the kids,” she said. “I'd love to be able to ride a bike again, or even just go to a movie with my family without hurting.”