The following article is from The Daily Citizen in Dalton, GA:A year ago [...],
Nancy Burnett was lying in a coma at Hamilton Medical Center, her life hanging in the balance as her damaged liver continued to poison her body.
Last month, Burnett, a liver transplant recipient, was alert and being sworn in as a member of the Georgia Bar Association as about 20 family members and friends gathered to watch at the Whitfield County Courthouse.
What a difference a year can make.
A member of the bar associations in both Tennessee and New York, Burnett has been a practicing attorney since 1990. In October 2008, however, she was forced to move back in with her family in Dalton after she became extremely ill with non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), a disease of the liver prevalent in obese individuals.
Years of problems had gone undiagnosed as doctor after doctor failed to understand what caused her legs to leak clear fluid, her mind to become slow and confused and her body to begin shutting down. When Burnett was finally diagnosed, she was shocked, she said. As her condition grew progressively worse, Burnett developed hepatic encephalopathy, a condition that clouds the brain as the body becomes unable to rid itself of the ammonia it produces through normal eating.
Burnett moved in with her brother, Mark, and mother, Pat in Dalton. By then, she could no longer add, subtract or sign her name, let alone practice law.
After Burnett recovered from her coma at Hamilton, she was able to return home only to be hospitalized again at Memorial Hospital in Chattanooga within a week of being released. Burnett said she was sent to Memorial because of her insurance and later went to Piedmont Hospital in Atlanta for tests and eventually for a liver transplant in January.
“I had to lose weight to get the surgery,” she said. “From my heaviest to my thinnest, I’ve lost 150 pounds. I’ve gained some of that back. I’m about a hundred pounds lighter than I was.”
Burnett described liver disease as “a silent killer,” explaining the doctor who diagnosed her estimated she’d had problems for 15 to 20 years. Burnett, who has been listed as an organ donor for most of her adult life, said she did not notice anything was wrong until about 2003 or 2004.
Kathleen Tancrede of Tunnel Hill, one of Burnett’s sisters, said Burnett spent the Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s holidays as well as her birthday last year in the hospital. Burnett turns 48 on Monday and will celebrate by opening her law office at 217 W. Crawford St. where she plans to be a general practitioner.
“I’ll be doing divorce for sure because I did that for 12 years up in New York,” she said. “I’ve done a lot of bankruptcy in New York, so I’ll probably pick that up.”
Burnett was sworn in before Superior Court Judge Jack Partain on Friday along with law interns Robert Mikell and Kevin Morris, both of whom are completing year-long internships in the superior court system. Burnett has volunteered her time as a clerk at the office since July.
Judge Robert Adams said he has observed “a high standard” in Burnett and that she often took care of problems before he was even aware they were there.
Mark Burnett said seeing his sister be sworn in to practice law in Georgia was like watching a family member get a gold medal in the Olympics. In addition to her brother and sister, her mother, Pat, her father Reg and her stepmother Jean as well as several other family members and friends were all present.
Family members said several community members had donated money to her to help her cover her more than $100,000 in medical bills, and local churches had prayed for Burnett to get better. Burnett said she awoke from her coma at Hamilton on a Sunday shortly after morning church services released.
“There were at least three or four local churches praying for me,” she said. “It just really confirmed my belief (in the power of prayer).”
“I’m just so grateful to the community for all the support that they’ve given me and for the (50-year-old female) donor that she elected when she was alive to be a donor when she died,” she said.
Burnett graduated from Dalton High School in 1981 and was the STAR Student that year in recognition of having the highest SAT score at the school, she said. As a reward, she and other STAR students across Georgia received a tour of the state and were able to briefly meet Jimmy Carter.
Burnett graduated from Georgia State University, changing her major a few times as her interests swung between computer programming, international studies and accounting. Finally, her parents suggested she pursue a career in law.
“I fell absolutely in love with the study of law,” she said. “It absolutely captivated me. The study of law is very elegant.”
Burnett attended law school at Georgia State University for her first year then graduated in 1989 from Albany Law School in New York. She practiced in New York for 12 years and since 2003 in Tennessee.
