MONDAY, Nov. 9, 2026 (HealthDay News) — For nearly 50 years, guitarist Mike Wanchic has performed alongside rock legend John Mellencamp.
But when progressive weakness and numbness began affecting his legs, Wanchic faced the possibility of losing the career he loved.
"Of course, I have my family, but I'm not a happy person if I can't do what I was put on this earth to do," Wanchic said.
Doctors near his home in Indiana suspected transverse myelitis, an inflammatory condition of the spinal cord.
But despite months of high-dose steroids and other treatments, Wanchic continued to worsen. Still searching for answers, Wanchic went to Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, for a second opinion.
"So, by the time I saw him, he was needing a wheelchair to get around and was quite disabled by all of this," said Mayo Clinic neurologist Dr. Samantha Banks.
"In that first visit, I was very suspicious that this was what's called a dural AV fistula," she said. "This is a vascular problem, so it's not an inflammatory problem that he was being treated for."
New imaging confirmed her suspicion. Wanchic had a rare spinal arteriovenous fistula that was disrupting blood flow and damaging his spinal cord.
"I'd spent three months with infusions and horrible results and degeneration from a misdiagnosis," he said. "But without being able to walk and function, my days were over."
Surgery was quickly scheduled.
"Within 48 hours of being there, they had diagnosed it and fixed it. 48 hours," Wanchic marveled.
After a month of intensive rehabilitation, Wanchic was determined to return to the stage. This past summer, he joined Mellencamp's "Dancing Words" tour — without missing a show.
"I can't even imagine my life without my career and my music," Wanchic said.
More information
The Mayo Clinic has more on dural arteriovenous fistulas.
SOURCE: HealthDay TV, Nov. 9, 2026
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