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At the age of eight, Max Harris overcame aplastic anemia, a condition that occurs when your body stops producing enough new blood cells. Successful treatment led to his recovery and several years of good health. Years later, a visit to ...
"I think it's cancer," are not words that anyone, especially a 29 year old nurse recently relocated to Arizona, expects to hear. Jennifer McGoldrick faced these words and the eventual diagnosis of breast cancer shortly after moving to Scottsdale to continue ...
Jane Fausel invested in her health by choosing Mayo Clinic to treat her lung cancer, and she's glad she did.
Adventures call and Earlene Taylor still answers, thanks to Mayo doctors who helped her beat lung cancer again.
Years of raising awareness for breast cancer could not have prepared Barbra Riley for the devastating words she heard just over a year ago – "You have breast cancer." Barbra had dedicated her time and energy to promoting breast cancer awareness through ...
Suzy Underhill's life took an unexpected turn less than a year ago when she discovered a large lump under her breast. She immediately went to see her gynecologist who recommended that she consult with a specialist. Suzy's good friend had ...
A mother and her three daughters – all diagnosed with breast cancer. Kathleen O'Brien shares her family's history battling a disease which eventually took her mother's life and now has struck three more times. Kathleen and her sisters, Angel and Brenda, ...
One goal changed her life. Now almost two years after a devastating concussion, Sydney Urzendowski is changing the goals of her life. Sydney, of Elkhorn, Neb., was an active teenager, always on the go and had high aspirations in playing ...
Following radiation therapy and chemotherapy treatment at Mayo Clinic for a brain stem glioma, the tumor which had threatened Jordan Mills' life, had shrunk. Jordan's life continued full of happy events. He married his fiancée, Kelly, in June 2009, and bought his ...
Jordan Mills is a man's man. Enlisted in the U.S. military in 2004, Jordan was deployed around the world, serving in countries as diverse as Japan, Korea and Afghanistan. But "after my first combat deployment," Jordan says, "I started noticing ...
Carolyn "Ceci" Christenson, age 18, of Gilbert, Ariz., has already survived a rare, life-threatening blood disorder and become a high-powered recruiter for the National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP). Her experience inspires Christenson to speak out for patients whose hope for ...
To celebrate his "first birthday" after treatment for esophageal cancer, Ricky Rinehart, 54, rode his bike to Mayo Clinic — 213 miles across the desert from his home in Yuma to Phoenix, Ariz. Thirteen friends, family and co-workers joined him ...
"Couldn't breathe, gasping for air," is how Bobbie Sofia describes the first sign that something was wrong. In 2007, Bobbie Sofia and her husband, Sam, traveled to San Antonio, Texas from their home of almost forty years in Lake Havasu ...
For Mark McNeary, a retired music industry executive, his miracle story began shortly after finishing Saturday morning chores at his ranch in Kingman, Ariz. Sudden, searing head pain and throat problems made it clear that he needed immediate medical attention. ...
A diagnosis of cancer can be devastating. For Robert Hoopes, a facilities manager from Glendale, Ariz., the diagnosis hit home – twice. In 2006, Kara, his wife of more than three decades, discovered that she had advanced colon cancer. After ...
As he biked 213 miles of desert between Yuma, Ariz., and Phoenix in temperatures above 90 degrees, Ricky Reinhart thought a lot about moving forward. Much the same as he did a year ago as he laid in a bed ...
By Lindsay Engelstad I was not a patient at the Mayo Clinic Hospital, but my mother was. Prior to her going into the hospital, I always hear people say "Go to the Mayo Clinic it is the best place to be ...
Tamieko, a 38 year old woman, was completely caught off guard when she was diagnosed with Stage I/II breast cancer in December 2010. After two years of observing suspicious changes in her breast that appeared normal on mammograms, she requested ...
In mid-February, 2011, flu-like symptoms caused Suzanne Vela to leave work early to try to recover quickly from fatigue and a persistent cough. Several days of rest at home did not seem to improve her symptoms and Javier Vela, Suzanne's ...
Written by Karen Brown, Ph.D., Professor of Operations and Project Management, Thunderbird School of Global Management Anyone facing or experiencing cancer treatment can relate to the idea that it's a project: a set of coordinated activities aimed at a goal. ...
In the fall of 1990, Morgan Tyner experienced a moment that would change his life forever. While at work, Morgan, a newly practicing dentist, suffered a seizure. After undergoing many tests over the course of several days, he received a ...
What began as an isolated episode of shortness of breath and developed into symptoms of increasing fatigue in 2008, turned into an unexpected and serious medical condition for David Hawley, a retired hotel executive in Phoenix, Arizona. David Hawley received ...
By Patricia Wagner In this final entry, I'll be sharing as one patient to another the complementary practices which have enhanced my total health. I am most grateful to the M.D.s who treat me, as I'm sure most of you ...
by Patricia Wagner Thanks for sticking with me! In this entry, I'll be talking about what is involved in being your own advocate. I believe that for myself, I would not be alive to write to you now had I ...
by Patricia Wagner In this entry, I'll talk about how the disease started and a look into how I was affected. Bear in mind that every case is different and you shouldn't conclude that you'll go through the same things ...
I'm Patricia Wagner. I'm 58 years old and live in a retirement community with my husband and two cats. I'm now followed by Dr. Ruben Mesa, a hematologist at the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale. I'm writing this blog series to ...
When Rob Clary, 44, of Cave Creek, Ariz., needed surgery for cancer in his throat, the surgeon was able to remove the cancer through Clary's mouth. Last February, Clary had surgery at Mayo Clinic in Arizona, one of a few ...
Anne Louise and Larry Shaffer, both volunteers at Mayo Clinic for the last seven years, met while working at Sears national headquarters in Chicago, Illinois. She was a jack of all trades working in various departments including buying, marketing, and ...
By Caitlyn Potter When I was 17, I was diagnosed with stage one skin cancer. My primary care doctor, Dr. Sonia Lenzmeier has been checking my skin since I was 15 years old. On one of my office visits, she ...
Melissa Blevins, administrator for the Transplant Center and Living Donor Programs at Mayo Clinic's campus in Arizona, knew that one day she'd be an organ donor. Her epiphany occurred 15 years ago. She was working as nurse transplant coordinator and, ...
Karen Teaser has always led a very active lifestyle outdoors. A former lifeguard, Teaser, who resides in Iowa and winters in Arizona with her husband Jim, spent years out on the water and relaxing in the sun. After being diagnosed ...
'His and Her' Weight Loss Surgeries Spawn Healthy Lifestyle Changes -Arizona couple loses pounds, inches, old habits after Mayo Clinic surgeries Not many people who struggle with weight issues are proud to show off their "before" photos – especially when ...
It was the summer of 2008, and Nichole Rushton was primed and ready to run 26.2 miles – a marathon – something she had accomplished with relative ease twice before. At age 28, she well could have invented the concept of ...
By Julie Janovsky-Mason It was, perhaps, an airline passenger's worst nightmare. En route from North Carolina to Phoenix, Bernice Samuels, was about two hours from landing when she suddenly became ill and lost consciousness. Samuels' brother William Cheeks, who was ...
Jack Stiehl, 71, Sun City West, Ariz., was diagnosed with congestive heart failure in 2004. He had difficulty breathing and was easily winded. In 2007, with ever worsening symptoms, Stiehl recalls his local physician saying he was out of options; ...
Instead of honeymooning in Ireland, Adam Janusz and his wife, Saori, took a journey of the heart. Janusz, then 32, was diagnosed with a rare heart ailment, requiring ventricular assist devices (VAD) to keep his heart pumping. Eventually, he'd need ...
The moment finally came. But it was an uneasy one at first. MaryEllen Sheppard was about to receive her last round of chemotherapy at Mayo Clinic, with friends and family by her side. But as her loved ones and her ...
From the moment MaryEllen Sheppard was diagnosed with triple negative breast cancer, she wondered how she developed cancer. Her ancestors, she said, tended to live long, healthy lives. And other than a cousin, she wasn't aware of anyone else in ...
When you last saw MaryEllen Sheppard in Episode 2, she spoke about how she was beginning to lose her hair. After two rounds of chemotherapy, MaryEllen said she was beginning to lose clumps at a time. She knew the day was coming. ...
Pansy Parker of Goodyear, Ariz., has been celebrating her cancer-free "five-year-mark" with a little partying and a lot of faith. "I just thank God so much for the five-year benchmark," said the ebullient 73-year-old, who threw a party and invited ...
Like many women facing breast cancer, MaryEllen Sheppard had concerns over how she would feel after her chemotherapy treatments. Would she be able to go to work? Would the chemotherapy leave her feeling ill and exhausted? How long would it ...
MaryEllen Sheppard knew something was wrong as soon as she felt a thickened patch of skin on her right breast. She didn't feel a lump, but knew the change was different enough to get it checked out. A mammogram and ...
Inspiration comes in many forms – for Irma Poznecki, a 45-year-old mother of three from Anthem, Ariz., it was brownies and cupcakes. In late 2009, Irma was diagnosed with breast cancer. The news came as an obvious shock to Irma ...
Where do I start in my cancer journey?? I guess at the beginning!! It all started with a "bump" on the inside of my ankle that I ignored because it was the same color as my skin and didn't hurt. ...
Jill Camirand likes to keep moving. When she finished college in New Hampshire the first thing she did was get on a train and go. She didn't have a particular destination in mind, she just wanted to see where it ...
Raley Mae Radomske was all set to begin a new chapter in her life the summer of 2009 when the unthinkable happened. A national rodeo champion, Radomske, 18, experienced a seizure as she was readying for her move from her ...
Joan Dymand-Hintz was in her early 40′s when she became pregnant with her daughter. The happiness she and her husband Marc Hintz felt was short-lived. A week after learning she was pregnant, Joan, a Scottsdale, Arizona-based singer and mother of ...
'Date Night' Takes on New Meaning for Heart Patient at Mayo Clinic in Arizona It would be hard to ignore the elephant in the room. This "elephant" happens to be the 400-pound artificial heart machine that is keeping alive a ...
Generally when the heart of Adrian Fernandez is beating at a frenetic pace, he's behind the wheel of a race car, and a highly trained and loyal pit crew is waiting around the next turn of the track to spring ...
He made it! Scott MacIntyre, singer/songwriter/pianist from Scottsdale, Ariz., that is. Scott, 23, a contestant on the current season of American Idol, made the list of the 10 finalists on last night's program (Wednesday, March 18) when "America" voted him ...
Pearls top the list as the suggested 30th wedding anniversary gift. Still, some devoted husbands may opt to purchase their bride of three decades a special spa day – or an exotic trip to sip a cool drink by an ...
In last week's Social Media Saturday post we introduced Mayo Clinic's YouTube channel and how you can view videos and pass them along to your family or friends who might find them interesting. But what if you want to share your ...
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