It was just a sneeze that brought Kellianne Hodges to her knees, aggravating a herniated disc in her back and sending her to the ER at Methodist Richardson Medical Center.
“I instantly knew something was wrong,” says the mother of two from Rockwall. “For a while, everything revolved around the pain.”
Now the 37-year-old advertising producer has resumed her active lifestyle, playing soccer with her kids and even returning to the pickleball court, with help from minimally invasive back surgery.
“I was in and out of the hospital the same day,” says Kellianne, marveling at the outpatient procedure that ended years of pain. “And the staff at Methodist Richardson was lovely.”
LIVING WITH THE PAIN
Kellianne quietly coped with lower back pain ever since the birth of her first child in 2017.
Physical therapy helped, and like many active people, she pushed through the discomfort and kept going. The pain became background noise.
“We’re very active,” she says. “I play pickleball regularly, and have two small children, so being in pain the rest of my life wasn’t going to be an option.”
By the summer of 2025, the pain had returned, and this time, physical therapy was no match. Her misery only got worse until the sneeze that would be her breaking point.
“I instantly knew something was wrong,” says Kellianne, remembering the pain that jolted down her right leg and into her foot. “I couldn’t function normally anymore.”
An MRI showed Kellianne had a herniated disc between the lowest lumbar vertebrae.
TURNING TO SURGERY
The day that Kellianne visited Methodist Richardson, an MRI revealed a severely herniated disc between her L4 and L5 vertebrae, the two lowest bones in the lumbar spine.
“The disc material had traveled downward and was compressing the nerve in a very exact spot,” says Lauren Sand, MD, neurosurgeon on the medical staff at Methodist Richardson. That is excruciatingly painful.”
Dr. Sand explained that surgery was Kellianne’s best option.
“With that amount of compression of the nerve from the herniated disc,” Dr. Sand says, “it was very clear that she was not going to get much better without surgical intervention.”
The prospect of back surgery was overwhelming at first, but Dr. Sand walked her through the outpatient procedure and calmed her fears.
“She was so kind,” Kellianne says. “I had 500 questions for her, and she graciously answered every single one of them.”
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NOT JUST OLDER ADULTS
A vertebra becomes herniated when the soft cushioning between the bones of the spine pushes outward and presses against nearby nerves.
The condition can cause severe back pain, numbness, tingling, and weakness that radiates down the leg, which patients often dismiss until the pain is debilitating.
While these issues are often associated with older adults, younger, active people can experience them, as well.
“My patient population is a little bit older than Kellianne,” Dr. Sand says. “She’s a very active person, too, so it is very possible that she had injured her back without knowing it.”
Genetics can also play a role in back problems, Dr. Sand adds, with some families developing degenerative disc disease earlier in life.
“When I spoke to my dad, he told me he had a similar surgery around my age,” Kellianne says.
Kellianne with her husband, Greg, and children Henry and Josie
IN AND OUT IN A DAY
Dr. Sand determined that Kellianne was a good candidate for a minimally invasive hemilaminectomy and discectomy.
This procedure relieves compressed nerves by removing only one side of the bony arch of a vertebra before treating the herniated disc with a microdiscectomy.
“I went to the ER on a Sunday, saw Dr. Sand on Tuesday, and I had surgery the following Thursday,” Kellianne says. “She got me in really quickly.”
Unlike traditional open surgeries, the 30-minute procedure required only a tiny incision, and she was discharged the same day. Kellianne remembers a nurse setting her mind at ease before she was rolled into the operating room.
Kellianne was eager to get back to playing soccer with her kids.
“I’m going to treat you like my daughter,” she recalls the nurse saying. “Words like that just mean so much to a patient.”
Dr. Sand removed a 4-centimeter herniation from Kellianne’s spine — one of the largest she has seen. For Kellianne, the relief was almost immediate.
“The leg pain that had been constant for months was gone,” she says, reliving the moment she woke up from surgery.
For Dr. Sand, those moments make the job special.
“It’s a very rewarding feeling to see that I’ve made a difference,” she said, “not just in their life, but in the lives of their friends and families, as well.”
Kellianne urges anyone living with back pain to visit a doctor and find a solution.
BACK IN ACTION
Recovery required plenty of patience for Kellianne. She took six weeks to heal, improving her strength and mobility through physical therapy.
Today, she is getting back to the life she loves, playing pickleball, lifting weights, and spending time with her family without the constant cloud of pain hanging over her.
From playing with her kids to just sleeping pain-free, Kellianne doesn’t take simple things for granted anymore. She encourages anyone living with chronic pain to see their doctor.
“If you’re living with chronic pain, it doesn’t have to be that way. There’s treatment, there are options,” she says. “I can tell from my own success that it is worth making the appointment and going to see what your options are.”
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