Kaysie Morrison recognizes great care when she receives it. A registered dietitian and clinical nutrition manager at Memorial Hermann Memorial City Medical Center, Morrison frequently works with diabetic patients. When a non-healing wound threatened her life, she received noteworthy care and is grateful for being able to talk about it.
"About eight years ago, I began getting wounds on my nose and my head," she recalls.
Doctors at another facility couldn't determine the underlying cause of the wounds and diagnosed Morrison with Pyoderma Gangrenosum. This autoimmune disorder is characterized by ulcers of the skin that seem to appear for no particular cause, according to findings published by the National Library of Medicine. Her initial treatment involved steroids to suppress her body's immune system, which seemed to be overreacting to minor skin irritations.
When steroids contributed to a bacterial infection of her bone called osteomyelitis, Morrison had to undergo surgery to remove the infected bone in her nose and reconstruct it. Subsequently, more wounds led to a fungal infection. Two craniectomies were performed to remove pieces of her skull affected by the infection. She also underwent a 10-hour surgery that involved removing muscle from her back and a vein from her leg and transplanting them onto her head to try to close the wound left after surgery.
"At this point in time, no one really knew what was causing these wounds," Morrison says. "I was running out of treatment options because I could no longer take steroids as they were causing infections."
Morrison was told by a team of doctors, including a rheumatologist, a neurosurgeon and an infectious disease specialist that she had an 80% chance of dying within a year. That was because she was no longer a surgical candidate after eight surgeries. Around that time, she was diagnosed with Behçet's disease, a rare microvascular autoimmune disease in which the body's immune system attacks blood vessels and otherwise healthy tissue of various organs. According to the Vasculitis Foundation, Behçet's disease is a form of vasculitis.
As a last resort, Morrison turned to Memorial Hermann Amputation Prevention Center® and Wound Care - Memorial City for help. "At that point, I had a 4x4 inch piece of bone sticking out of my forehead and a wound about the size of a deck of cards that had been open for about eight months," she says. "I was familiar with the staff at Memorial City because of the work I had been doing with my diabetes patients. The staff there is just phenomenal."
Afaf Zahra Shah, MD, a Memorial Hermann Memorial City wound care specialist and Medical Director at the Center, saw Morrison and determined she would benefit from a skin substitute derived from human placenta of tissue donors. “The placenta is rich in growth factors,” Dr. Shah says, “And those nutrients help in healing wounds.”
After meticulously cleaning the wound in a process known as surgical debridement, Dr. Shah applied the skin substitute to Morrison's wound and used surgical strips to hold it in place.
Morrison also underwent hyperbaric oxygen therapy at Memorial Hermann Memorial City to deliver 100% oxygen to the wound to promote healing and to reduce the risk of another infection. “After several weeks of surgical debridement and application of the skin allografts, the wound was closed," Dr. Shah says.
Morrison’s wound that had been open for eight months was finally healed. According to Dr. Shah, Morrison's case reflects the phenomenal healing rate of chronic wounds that Memorial Hermann Amputation Prevention Center® and Wound Care - Memorial City has come to be known for. "We typically heal patients in a matter of weeks if they follow our plan of care," she explains.
Their success is evidenced by the Center garnering multiple Clinical Distinction awards from RestorixHealth, a leading developer and operator of advanced wound care and hyperbaric medicine centers across the United States. The Center has also been recognized for exceptional patient satisfaction.
"It was a miracle," Morrison says of her recovery following treatment by Dr. Shah. "My wound has remained closed since November 2024 after eight years of fighting through this and multiple surgeries and disappointing treatments. I've been discharged by my infectious disease doctor, and I got to ring the Healing Bell which is a tradition in the Center," signaling the end to her regular treatment there.
Morrison continues to receive intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) infusions at her home every six weeks to keep her immune system from attacking her skin. She also takes a daily dose of a prescription medication to limit her body's production of an enzyme believed to cause an increase in skin cell production, as found in plaque psoriasis.
She credits Dr. Shah and the staff at Memorial Hermann Amputation Prevention Center® and Wound Care - Memorial City with her healing and her life. "It's not just the clinical care they provided," she says. "It's how much they care about the patients as individuals by giving them a chance at life."