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J U L Y 2 0 1 6 • O U T PA T I E N TS U R G E R Y. N E T • 1 4 3 In the summer of 2012, when the pain in Mark Klaserner's back got to be too much to tolerate, his doc- tor recommended a lumbar discectomy and decompres- sion. But when his insurance company said it wouldn't pay for the procedure, he had to settle for yet another shot of steroids instead. Nearly 4 years later, Mr. Klaserner, 60, continues to pay a steep price for that decision. The steroid injection, given at Michigan Pain Specialists, in Brighton was contaminated, and he became one of hundreds nationwide to contract fun- gal meningitis. "Shortly after I got the shot, I went to Colorado for the birth of my grandson," he recalls, "and I started getting calls from my doctor." When he heard something about a meningitis outbreak on the national news, he figured he'd better return the calls. Soon he was in the hospital, where he'd remain for 43 days and gain 80 pounds. He got out just before Christmas, and quickly lost the extra weight, but his life had been permanently altered. "I'm always getting sick and I'm not able to keep food "I lost at least 10 years of my life from that injection." "I lost at least 10 years of my life from that injection." • MARK KLASERNER says his bout with meningitis has left his body too old for his age. Mark Klaserner down," he says. "If I get bit by a bug or something, it turns into a big deal. Everything is just kind of out of whack." A former tool and die maker, he now lives in Littleton, Colo., and has been declared permanently dis- abled. "I can't stand or do any- thing long enough," he says. "The pain meds are too power- ful. No one would hire me. I can't work and I burned up my retirement money." He'd planned for retirement, he says, but he hadn't planned on being retired at age 57. He tries to remain as upbeat as possible, he says: "My future's pretty bleak, but I'm not going to complain. I have my grandson, Hudson, and I hold onto that very tightly, because I get very depressed very easily. "Doctors have told me that my body is too old for my age," he adds. "I can't prove it, but I know for a fact that I lost at least 10 years of my life from that injection." — Jim Burger