ALVA Woodpeckers build home in Alva woman’s house You may have heard of squatters, but this woman is dealing with squawkers. Who needs a rooster to wake up when you have woodpeckers?
FORT MYERS Man claims he was trapped in a high-rise for 5 days A 77-year-old man wants justice after he claims he spent days trapped on the 24th floor of a high-rise apartment building.
PUNTA GORDA Charlotte Correctional prisoner arrested for death of another inmate State Attorney Amira Fox convened a grand jury, which decided to move forward with a case against a Charlotte Correctional inmate.
SANIBEL Construction near Dairy Queen eagle nest on Sanibel raises concerns While many eagle nests may be a bit difficult to see, one nest has always been a favorite for Sanibel residents and tourists.
The environmental effects of artificial sweeteners Experts are studying how the foods we eat affect the environment, especially after we flush our waste down the toilet.
Victim reacts to man exposing himself to her Ring camera You get a notification on your phone from your ring camera app that someone is at the door, only to find out it is someone exposing themselves. It’s the last thing victim Maria Kivi wanted or expected to see last week.
LEE COUNTY The art of capturing your eye and drawing you in How do you capture young, hip, trendy, fun, movers and shakers, all in a pose? We take you behind the scenes of a Gulfshore Life cover shoot.
FORT MYERS The lives of two SJC Boxers changed in the ring Two SJC Boxers, Mario Nunez and Arbon Kurtishi, help each other in the ring as each of them had their lives changed because of boxing.
FORT MYERS Chlamydia cases rising sharply in Lee County If you think about a crowded space- something with more than 250 people- if it’s in Lee county, statistically one person has chlamydia.
SANIBEL Sanibel resort day passes hope to get more business on the island A pass will allow vacationers to hang out at a Sanibel beach club for a day in hopes of drumming up some business.
Voting equipment tested ahead of Lee County elections Voting equipment is being tested in Lee County. This is to ensure all ballots are printed and counted correctly for the upcoming election.
Collier County teen assaulted after leaving party The teen has been charged and the sheriff’s office said they’re aware that many believe felony charges are in order, but under Florida law, there are very specific criteria that must be met for felony charges to be filed.
WINK weather team watching tropical wave over Atlantic Ocean The Weather Authority is watching a tropical disturbance over the Central Atlantic Ocean.
CAPE CORAL Cape Coral drug bust leads investigators to fake fentanyl, cash and guns Cape Coral man arrest on drug charges. Investigators said they found, guns, drugs, and more than $32,000 in Richard Riley’s home.
NAPLES Naples youth flag football team to compete in Ohio tournament This weekend, the Naples Lunatics Green will compete in the Superhero Sports tournament in Canton, Ohio.
ALVA Woodpeckers build home in Alva woman’s house You may have heard of squatters, but this woman is dealing with squawkers. Who needs a rooster to wake up when you have woodpeckers?
FORT MYERS Man claims he was trapped in a high-rise for 5 days A 77-year-old man wants justice after he claims he spent days trapped on the 24th floor of a high-rise apartment building.
PUNTA GORDA Charlotte Correctional prisoner arrested for death of another inmate State Attorney Amira Fox convened a grand jury, which decided to move forward with a case against a Charlotte Correctional inmate.
SANIBEL Construction near Dairy Queen eagle nest on Sanibel raises concerns While many eagle nests may be a bit difficult to see, one nest has always been a favorite for Sanibel residents and tourists.
The environmental effects of artificial sweeteners Experts are studying how the foods we eat affect the environment, especially after we flush our waste down the toilet.
Victim reacts to man exposing himself to her Ring camera You get a notification on your phone from your ring camera app that someone is at the door, only to find out it is someone exposing themselves. It’s the last thing victim Maria Kivi wanted or expected to see last week.
LEE COUNTY The art of capturing your eye and drawing you in How do you capture young, hip, trendy, fun, movers and shakers, all in a pose? We take you behind the scenes of a Gulfshore Life cover shoot.
FORT MYERS The lives of two SJC Boxers changed in the ring Two SJC Boxers, Mario Nunez and Arbon Kurtishi, help each other in the ring as each of them had their lives changed because of boxing.
FORT MYERS Chlamydia cases rising sharply in Lee County If you think about a crowded space- something with more than 250 people- if it’s in Lee county, statistically one person has chlamydia.
SANIBEL Sanibel resort day passes hope to get more business on the island A pass will allow vacationers to hang out at a Sanibel beach club for a day in hopes of drumming up some business.
Voting equipment tested ahead of Lee County elections Voting equipment is being tested in Lee County. This is to ensure all ballots are printed and counted correctly for the upcoming election.
Collier County teen assaulted after leaving party The teen has been charged and the sheriff’s office said they’re aware that many believe felony charges are in order, but under Florida law, there are very specific criteria that must be met for felony charges to be filed.
WINK weather team watching tropical wave over Atlantic Ocean The Weather Authority is watching a tropical disturbance over the Central Atlantic Ocean.
CAPE CORAL Cape Coral drug bust leads investigators to fake fentanyl, cash and guns Cape Coral man arrest on drug charges. Investigators said they found, guns, drugs, and more than $32,000 in Richard Riley’s home.
NAPLES Naples youth flag football team to compete in Ohio tournament This weekend, the Naples Lunatics Green will compete in the Superhero Sports tournament in Canton, Ohio.
A neurosurgeon at NCH was recently able to relieve a man of the sciatica pain he suffered in his back for 50 years. Back pain is one of the most common reasons people visit a doctor. With older people, it’s often brought on by a condition called spinal stenosis, which is a narrowing of the spinal canal. This carries severe pain if a nerve is compressed. The ultimate solution is surgery, but even that can fail over time. “I’ve never been able to do this before,” said John Koffel, who has a procedure done on his back to deal with pain recently. To see Koffel tee it up is almost miraculous. His back pain started with an accident in his teens. Despite several surgeries, it only got worse. “I dealt with sciatica pain for 50 years. And I lived with that. But then it turned to nerve pain and it got really excruciating, worse to the point where I was debilitated,” Koffel said. “I had to walk with a walker. I was afraid I was going to be confined to a wheelchair the rest of my life.” His options were few and his pain was enormous. John Koffel. (CREDIT: WINK News) But when NCH neurosurgeon Edison Valle took images of his spine, he saw an opportunity. “On the other side you don’t even see the nerve,” Valle said. “From all the surgeries that he’s had, he’s had a lot of scars on one of his nerves. The nerve that was going on to the right leg was severely compressed to the point that he was in between two bones that every time they move the nerve was basically crushed.” Past surgeries to fuse his spine and relieve pain were now choking a nerve. The fix was to open a space to free it. That required a level of precision made possible by combining several cutting-edge techniques. The first was to use the Arthrex NanoScope™ visualization system, mostly used in sports medicine surgeries. It’s a single-use camera system with chip-on-tip technology, designed to be minimally invasive. In this case, it was used to navigate into a small space. “It looks like a needle, basically. And it gives you great images,” Valle said. The challenge now was to get through layers of scar tissue and remove bone without damaging the nerve. “The next tool that allow us to do this was basically an ultrasonic aspirator. Which is basically a tool that is also minimally invasive,” Valle said. “Through ultrasonic waves that give and take into the bone you can basically destroy the bones and at the same time aspirate the bone that is pushing onto the nerve Without getting into the nerve itself, and being able to create a new house for the nerve.” For all its complexity, this ultra-minimally invasive surgery was over in an hour. The results were immediate. “This was the first surgery for the system where you use all these tools that are technology-driven and that are in innovation, right, to be able to help somebody like him,” Valle said. Koffel said for the first time in 50 years, he has no back pain. “I’ve never lived without back pain. And it’s the first time I don’t have it. I really don’t know how to handle it, to be honest with you,” Koffel said. He now feels free to enjoy life.