Days after undergoing spinal cord surgery in 2004, Tracy Price learned from Emory University Hospital in Atlanta that instruments used during the procedure may have infected her with a rare, fatal brain disorder.
Now she lives with a fear of contracting Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, which is characterized by rapid dementia.
â??Itâ??s not like it ever goes out of my mind,â? she said. â??Itâ??s always there. You might go into the kitchen and then forget what you went in there for. Thatâ??s normal for most people, but itâ??s a freak-out occasion for me and I wonder, â??Is this it?â??â?