Julia Storm: "Basically, they saved my life."

Julia Storm is such a bright and sunny person today that it is hard to imagine how sick she was just two years ago.

In November, 2004,Storm had surgery at Tulane Medical Center for the removal of a large tumor on her liver. Physicians at Tulane removed sixty percent of her liver. "I went to UAB (University of Alabama at Birmingham) first, but they couldn't do the surgery," she said, "so I went to Tulane."

Four days later, at home in Bon Secour, she had a raging fever and was very sick, so she went to the Emergency Department at South Baldwin Regional Medical Center where doctors found an abscess on the remaining forty percent of her liver.

"Basically, they saved my life," Storm said. Radiologist William Jones, M.D. was able to insert a tube into the liver and drain the abscess without disturbing the large incision from her surgery. "If it weren't for Dr. Jones, I wouldn't be here," she said, "he drained two pints of fluid from my liver." Later, Dr. Joseph Ameh, Pulmonary and Critical Care physician, drained another pint of fluid from Storm's lungs. "Those doctors, Dr. Jason Harrah (Family Practice), Dr. David Cain (Surgeon) and the entire nursing staff were right there to help me. They are just unbelievable. They are why I'm still here."

Julia Storm doesn't like to hear negative comments about South Baldwin Regional Medical Center. "When someone says something ugly about that hospital, I say, 'Wait just a minute—you don't know what you're talking about.' What a shame that people aren't just raving about that hospital. I have nothing but praise for those people, and I don't mind bragging about them." she said.

Since 2004, Storm has spent a lot of time at SBRMC. "I have a touch of rheumatoid arthritis and I have my liver checked regularly," she said, "and everybody is always just as sweet as they can be to me. I have never had a problem," she said.

Storm's grandmother, Louise Jackson, age 88, recently was a patient at SBRMC and loves the hospital as much as her granddaughter does. "They treat her right," Storm said. "She is back home and doing well."

Storm has been an Engineering Assistant at Baldwin EMC for six and a half years and she does a lot of volunteer work with her company. She volunteers for Relay for Life, the American Cancer Society and United Way and loves every minute of her service.

Born and raised in Baldwin County, Julia and her husband, Rory, live in Bon Secour right next door to her mother, Lillie Mae Harrison. They have two sons, Dusty, 21, who is a rescue diver for the U.S Coast Guard, and Sawyer, 16, a student at Foley High School.

The Storm family lived in Stuttgart, Germany, for four years and in Fairbanks, Alaska, for six years while Rory was in the U.S. Army. Julia has two brothers. Randy and his wife, Pam, live in Foley, and Danny and his wife, Cheryl, live in Cutoff, LA.

"I'm kin to ninety percent of the people in Baldwin County," Storm said. "We enjoyed living in Europe, and Alaska was beautiful, but we are glad to be home."

Julia Storm is glad to be near her hospital, too. "They know me and I know them," she said. "I feel like everyone there loves me."