written by: Adam Chodak posted by: Jen Marnowski 
THORNTON, CO. - In March of 2007, Nick Hoch broke his toe. The accident triggered a nightmare of a disease defined primarily by unrelenting pain.
Hoch, 37, had been working for Budweiser, loading and unloading beer throughout the Denver area.
While on the job, he dropped a keg on his foot. Doctors removed two bones from one of his toes and replaced them with pins.
Hoch, a Thornton resident and father of three, should have bounced back quickly. He didn't.
"It got progressively worse," his father, Tom, said.
Tom watched as the pain not only intensified, but moved beyond his foot and into his legs.
"You touched him, he was in brutal agony," he remembered.
Hoch had what's called Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS). Doctors once referred to it as Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy (RSD).
This is the same disease Leslie Fishbein - the Denver furniture magnate who died earlier this year - had.
"It's devastating and it can become all-consuming for patients," said pain specialist Dr. Mike McCeney. "It basically takes over their lives."
McCeney, who works in northern Colorado, said CRPS is usually the result of a relatively minor injury like a broken bone.
He said the nervous system, for some reason, goes haywire causing "pain that's actually way out of proportion to the actual injury that has occurred."
The pain can be managed, but there's no cure for CRPS.
McCeney said not many know about the disease, including those in the medical community.
"There's some doctors out there that don't know about the entity and unfortunately (some patients) don't get treatment going soon enough, which can be a problem," he said.
Hoch struggled with the pain for nearly two years. This week, Hoch went into the hospital to undergo a procedure that could have tempered the pain.
Early Wednesday morning, just hours before the scheduled surgery, Tom Hoch got a call.
"That was it," he said. "I mean 37 years old and he's gone."
Hoch still doesn't know what exactly killed his son, but he does know he'll continue to get the word out about this horrible disease.
"You wouldn't wish this on your worst enemy," he said.
9 comments:
Thank you for sharing this Marla. RSD awareness needs to skyrocket to help those who are suffering and their families and to ramp up research to find a cure and treatments. You're really out there making a huge difference. May God watch over you extra special! Love, Coach A.
Our hearts and prayer go out to this family and all those who suffer with RSD.
Thank you Coach A.!
This story really touched my heart yesterday and kept me up all most all night, and think it is because they don't know why he died!! Was it RSD related? I do plan on following this story as best I can to see if any other reports come through about the cause of death. And I will let you all know as soon as I know something.
I also want to know what treatment he was going to have done the next day to relieve his pain. Was it to have the SCS implanted? Was it to have the Ketamine IV Coma treatment done? I am really curious about that!
~God Bless~
how tragic...
thanks for sharing this :)
That's sad and scary at the same time.
I also wonder what treatment he was scheduled to receive.
Hi Marla
Like you I find it extraordinary that this person died. One would hope a post mortum might show exactly what was the problem.
Because the autonomic nervous system is disturbed there are a number of ways this can effect you. Recently I was unconscious from a sudden drop in blood pressure, most likely due to sympathetic exhaustion. However, even though you go into shock the brain sets things in motion to get you going again.
This news report leaves a lot unsaid. Up till now I think we have all been told that, although devastating, CRPS is not fatal.
jeisea
Thank you so much for posting this Marla! This story also touched me a lot and my heart goes out to this mans family and friends as they are having to deal with all of this.
I too, would be very interested to learn whether this was RSD related or not and what procedure the man was going to have to try and ease some of his pain. I hope that the author will keep us updated with the story and that hopefully they will find out what the cause of death was.
I agree with what the others said, research is SO desperately needed for this condition to try and find a treatment that can help and hopefully, put us all into remission!!
My thoughts and prayers are with this mans friends and family as they are dealing with all of this.
Thanks again for sharing this article with us all.
Alison.
http://www.topbb.com/rsd/index.php?sid=0eda8a13326cb447586121910631d809&mforum=rsd
Thanks for this post. We would sure like to hear what actually caused his death.
Jolene
www.peaceinpain.com
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