Noor Ali, of Dayton, is one of 21 Ohioans who contracted fungal meningitis related to tainted steroid injections manufactured by the New England Compounding Center (NECC) last year. "I have pain all day," Ali said. "I can't move. I can't do anything at home."

Ohio

Ali said she developed back pain as a result of some heavy lifting she did while working at her job at the Walmart store in Hilliard. She tried physical therapy before her doctor referred her to a pain specialist. Ali said she received two injections at a Dublin pain clinic. About a week after the second injection, she started experiencing severe headaches followed by back pain and numbness in her leg. A trip to the emergency room led to a diagnosis of meningitis.

The 21 cases in Ohio were part of a nationwide outbreak of meningitis from the contaminated pain injections that killed at least 64 people and sickened hundreds. Now, Congress is ready to increase federal oversight over compounding pharmacies those custom-mix medications.

Ali's husband, Hakeem Juma said she endured months of pain and developed an abscess around her spinal cord.

"They used a lot of pain killer medications but it didn't work at all," Juma said. "It worked only for a specific time and then she'd start vomiting, headaches all the day, crying because of the pain."

Noor Ali now walks with a cane. She can't stand for long periods of time and can't lift things - including her 4-year-old son.

"Sometimes he (wants me to) hold him. I can't do that. That's hard," she said.

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