Jet ski accident leads to unexpected diagnosis

Ricardo Ortiz went jet skiing with his family on Prior Lake, MN. It was a sunny summer day. He had an accident and later received an unexpected diagnosis.

He decided to go for one last ride on the lake with his son when he lost his balance and hit the water very hard on his left side. He started to feel the water coming into his mouth and nose and all of a sudden, everything was dark. When he woke up, he was in an ambulance.

Fortunately for Ricardo, he was taken immediately to Hennepin Healthcare’s Level I Adult and Pediatric Trauma Center. The emergency staff did a number of tests to further evaluate the extent of Ricardo’s injuries, including an MRI scan. The MRI scan results showed a tumor on Ricardo’s brain.

Ricardo and his wife, Carmen, were then met by the trauma team in the emergency department. That’s when they met Dr. Uzma Samadani.

Ricardo recalled the time in the emergency room, saying, “Dr. Samadani has a lot of experience. She’s one of the best. So I asked her, “Am I going to die?” and she said no. She was very confident. She said you have two options: just wait and get an MRI every month to see if the tumor grows or get surgery right away. So, I decided to get the surgery.”

Thanks to Hennepin Healthcare’s excellent care, Ricardo is well on his way to recovery.

Dr. Uzma Samadani has broad surgical capabilities as a general neurosurgeon. Her primary interest is cranial neurosurgery traumatic brain injury and hemorrhage research. She has expertise in image-guided, minimally invasive surgical techniques.