When their 17 year old daughter Jacklyn suffered a serious head injury, Michael and Barbara (Bowlin) Lowe saw a need first hand – the need for a portable CT scan machine at the QEII. This need was filled with a $400,000 gift from the Bowlin family, in memory of Jacklyn’s grandfather Gerald Bowlin.

An experienced trail guide at Hatfield Farm Cowboy Adventures, Jacklyn was heading out for a guided ride on July 13, 2007. For some unknown reason, the horse Jacklyn was riding became agitated and ran at top speed back toward the crowded barn area. “I grabbed my radio and called out for staff to clear the area because I couldn’t stop my horse,” recalls Jacklyn. This quick thinking act may well have saved the lives of her co-workers and visitors to the farm, but when the horse turned suddenly, Jacklyn lost her balance and struck her head on the side of the barn. In life-threatening condition, Jacklyn was transported to the QEII emergency department. Subsequently she spent 14 days in a comatose state and underwent brain surgery.

“The hardest part was when it came time for Jacklyn to have a CT scan,” remembers Barbara, Jacklyn’s mother. “All of the machines that were keeping Jacklyn alive would need to be disconnected and re-assembled in order for the equipment to be transported along with Jacklyn for her CT scan. Each trip down the hallway was life-threatening and it was completely unimaginable for me, as a mother, that it was necessary to move a critically ill patient and put them in further harms way.” Jacklyn had five CT scans while in ICU.

The Bowlin family had a simple solution to this frightful occurrence – bring the equipment to the patient’s bedside. And that’s exactly what they did with their generous gift of over $400,000 which purchased a portable CT scan machine called an O-Arm for the QEII’s neurosurgery department. “It is my hope that no mother will ever experience the fear that I felt watching Jacklyn be transported for a CT scan,” says Barbara.

The O-Arm is proving to be a valuable asset to the Division of Neurosurgery. Since its installation in September, it has been used in 20 cases. “The O-Arm provides real-time 3-D imaging during surgery which is a tremendous asset in dealing with complex spinal cases by improving surgical precision and patient safety. This has greatly enhanced our minimally invasive program,” explains Dr. Sean Christie, neurosurgeon, QEII Health Sciences Centre. With the ability to use image guided surgical planning and traditional instrumentation techniques, procedures are performed with greater accuracy and radiation exposure is reduced for patients and staff.

Jacklyn spent over two weeks in the ICU, followed by approximately six weeks on the patient floor level before transferring to the Rehabilitation Centre for seven weeks of learning how to communicate again. Jacklyn is home now, working with a physiotherapist, a speech pathologist and a personal trainer, and has returned to school part time. “I feel like I can do anything,” states Jacklyn with a big smile. She is looking forward to pursuing a nursing career.