[Check out the photo gallery and video at the bottom of this post]

So Saturday morning, April 16th, I’m sitting on my mountain bike (yes, a mountain bike) among the cyclists of our 160-member Mayo Clinic Team awaiting to start my first ever group bike ride. David Caples, the father of Katie Caples, who the ride is named after, gives us a countdown from ten just before the nearly 750 cyclists take off to either ride the 18, 36, 62 or 100-mile course.

I chose the 36-mile course since it was my first time riding more than 9 miles at a time. Next up…Fort Clinch. Riding through this state park meant seeing jungly palmetto bushes, Spanish moss and smiling pirates. It also happened to be the portion of the ride where I learned how to keep my pace while shooting photos and video. Two miles into the race, I thought to myself, “I can’t believe I’ve never been to Fort Clinch before. This place is absolutely beautiful and full of nature trails!” and then my chain falls off. Remember…this is still the learning phase.

After putting the chain back on, the next 30 miles included riding through the gorgeous neighborhoods of Amelia Island, getting lost a few times, passing multiple golf courses, struggling over the windy Nassau Sound, drinking water from a pirate’s cup, meeting my Team Mayo Clinic riders and finishing a bike ride that made me feel so gratified. I just helped raise awareness of the importance of donating life.

…and here are the photos I shot during the ride:

…and the video:

PS: In twitter speak, by putting this “#KatieRide” in a tweet, it allows all of tweets that are posted to twitter, to be categorized and linked together. You can see what I’m talking about here. I put it in the title of this post to show how social media was involved with The Katie Ride for Life.

In 2002, after suffering from symptoms for years, Anuradha was diagnosed with chronic kidney disease. With a kidney function of less than 50 percent, she was given less than seven years to live. Since then, she and her husband have committed themselves to her health and living well. Anuradha has controlled her disease and symptoms through diet, medication, yoga and homeopathy.

Despite all of Anuradha’s efforts, by October 2010, her kidney function reached less than 20 percent and she was placed on the transplant waiting list. Unless she found a donor match, she faced a long wait of about six years.

Her daughter, Kirti, knew that her mother would not have six years to wait on the transplant list, so she did what she knew best–she turned to social media and started a Facebook page.

Kirti started the page to help her mother find a kidney–she provided regular updates and information on organ donation and kidney disease. Even if she did not find a match for her mother, Kirti believed she might be able to help someone else.

In January 2011, Kirti posted a link to her mother’s Facebook page on her status update—“Mom is having a particularly hard week, and her situation is getting a little more desperate”. That evening on Twitter, she began receiving tweets from a Twitter follower, Amy D. inquiring about her mother’s health and questioning what they needed regarding a donor match.

At the time, Amy and Kirti had been following each other on Twitter for a little over a year and had met at dinner over the summer. Amy tweeted that she was interested in learning more and asked that Kirti call her. She shared that she was a B- blood type (an initial match) and would be interested in seeing if she was a match for her mother. Amy explained, “I have two kidneys, but you only have one mom.”  When Kirti hung up the phone, she said she “cried her eyes out.”

Amy pursued the blood test match process on January 26 and by February 24 received the news that she was a preliminary blood match. She then went through rigorous physical testing over the course of four weeks, including laboratory tests, electrocardiogram, CT scan, mammogram, a psychological evaluation and numerous consultations with specialists from the Transplant Center.

On March 15, they received the long-awaited news: Amy was a match for Anuradha! Surgery is now scheduled for April 19, 2011.  In preparation for the surgery and the expected costs, Anuradha’s family and Amy are together organizing fund-raising events to defray expenses.

Kirti explains, “Amazing to think that, without Twitter, she and I may have never met or even made a connection.”

You can continue following this incredible story on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/KidneyDisease and on Twitter at: #TinyFabKidney.

Scott came to Rochester late last week for pre-surgery appointments, and broadcast his show live from the Mayo Clinic campus. Just before his Friday show, he reflected on why he has chosen to be so public about his medical condition and treatment:

Scott’s family will be providing updates on his progress Monday via his Facebook profile and on his Twitter account.

We plan to follow up in the coming days, posting additional video from our Friday interview with Scott and video updates during his recovery.

According to family tradition, young Charlie Mayo – 14 years old at the time – set up the first telephone link in Rochester in 1879. It connected his father’s downtown office with the Mayo family’s farm in southeast Rochester. A natural mechanic, Charlie worked without plans, simply following photos and descriptions he had seen in various publications. The telephone itself was a novelty. Barely three years before, Alexander Graham Bell filed a patent to develop “an apparatus for transmitting vocal or other sounds telegraphically.”

Charlie’s father, Dr. William Worrall Mayo, quickly realized how the innovative technology could improve patient care. He became the first physician in town to install a telephone. Still, it was a challenge to get the public to accept this unusual means of communication. The Rochester Record and Union offered a helpful explanation on Dec. 12, 1879:

“The telephone line between Dr. Mayo’s office and his residence is now set up, the machines, or instruments, whichever they are, in position, and everything working splendidly. Conversation can be carried on just as rapidly and accurately as though the persons talking were only separated by a few feet instead of a mile, and familiar voices can be recognized as easily. Parties wishing to summon the Dr. between 6 in the morning and 9 in the evening can do so by making their wants known as Messrs. Geisinger and Newton’s drug store. After 9 p.m. and before 6 a.m., it will be necessary to find Mr. George Tilsbury, the night watch, who will operate the instrument between the hours named when occasion demands. This will prove not only a convenience but a positive benefit for the Dr. and his patients.”

The Mayo brothers were innovators in all areas of medical practice, finding the best way to serve patients more effectively, including use of the latest communications technology.

That’s why we see formation of the Mayo Clinic Center for Social Media as very much in keeping with the Mayo legacy. And it’s why we’re passing on the Mayo brothers’ wisdom through a social medium we believe they would have used if it were available in their day.

Check out the “What would Dr. Will and Dr. Charlie Tweet?” initiative, with new wisdom from our founders every working day in 2011.

If Charlie Mayo installed a telephone system at age 14, how could he not tweet today?

Her ancestors, she said, tended to live long, healthy lives.

And other than a cousin, she wasn’t aware of anyone else in her family who had breast cancer.

As her battle against the disease began, MaryEllen’s thoughts also turned to her sisters, nieces, daughter and granddaughter who was on the way. Could they be at risk too?

In late March, MaryEllen and her sister Eileen met with Mayo Clinic’s genetic counselor Katherine Hunt to find out if genetics could have played a role in her diagnosis and get a better idea of how at risk her female relatives are.

The following video shows excerpts from MaryEllen’s actual counseling session with Katherine Hunt.

And watch the bonus footage of MaryEllen sharing her thoughts on her genetic counseling session and the procedure she needed to insert a port for her remaining chemotherapy sessions.

Missed an episode?

Please click on the following  to see MaryEllen’s journey from the beginning:

Episode 1

Episode 2

Episode 3

Dr Northfelt on Mayo Clinic’s Cancer Center team

MaryEllen on why she enrolled in a clinical trial

As always, please feel free to post a comment about the series or a message to MaryEllen after each episode.

She expressed, “I have a lot of experience with different health systems across the United States, and this model is not seen anywhere else.”

Listen to more of her observations below to see how Mayo Clinic has surpassed her expectations.

Booklets

• Pressure Relief Maneuvers (MC6479), Bronze
• Teens + Living Well:  Staying Healthy & Safe (MC5727-02), Bronze
• Pediatric Cohlear Implants (MC6292), Merit
• Your Child’s Heart Surgery, Middle School (MC6141-04), Merit
• Teens + Depression: You Are Not Alone (MC6356), Merit

Video

• Barrett’s Esophagus & Esophageal Cancer (MC6373), Gold
• Your Discharge From the Psychiatric Hospital (MC6281-01), Bronze
• How to Treat Your Feet (MC6345), Merit

The entries were judged and selected by a panel of health information experts. More than 1,000 entries were submitted.

Watch a clip from gold winning video Barrett’s Esophagus and Esophageal Cancer:

Click here to learn more about the Barbara Woodward Lips Patient Education Center.

This article was written by Amy Hahn, Communications Consultant in the Section of Patient Education, Mayo Clinic in Minnesota.

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 subsequent biopsy caught her by surprise.

She had breast cancer.

Looking  to share her experience with other women coping with this disease, the 53-year-old mom (and new grandmother) from Tempe, Arizona, allowed a video crew from Mayo Clinic in Arizona to follow her on her journey.

MaryEllen  let the cameras roll during her medical appointments at Mayo Clinic.  Along the way she openly chronicles what it feels like to undergo chemotherapy and describes  how the medical treatments and medications affected her daily life.  She also lets viewers inside her genetic counseling session where she sought to find out if her triple negative breast cancer was inherited and the likelihood if she could ever genetically pass the risk of cancer on to her daughter and new granddaughter.

As this five-part series unfolds, MaryEllen also reveals her views on having to make herself a priority in her family, how she dealt  with losing her hair, how she overcame her fear of  a recurrence and how she takes care of herself now.

In this first episode, you’ll meet MaryEllen at her home as she recalls her reaction to her diagnosis and the fears that came with it.

We hope you’ll follow MaryEllen’s videos  throughout October and early November on the Sharing Mayo Clinic blog and we encourage you to post your comments on the series or post a message to MaryEllen after each new episode airs.

For five years, Erin Turner battled pain that ranged from nagging to excruciating in her right wrist. Turning a doorknob hurt. Opening a jar of spaghetti sauce was impossible. She repeatedly visited an orthopedic surgeon in Washington, D.C., where she works for a communications firm, and couldn’t get an answer for her pain.

That is, until she saw a “tweet” on Twitter on Nov. 12, 2009 about an online chat about wrist pain that Mayo Clinic orthopedic surgeon Richard Berger, M.D. was holding in conjunction with USA Today. That morning’s edition of the newspaper had carried a story about Jayson Werth, an outfielder for the Philadelphia Phillies, who had just played in his second World Series after coming back from a career-threatening wrist injury. Jayson had credited Dr. Berger with saving his career by repairing a split tear of the UT ligament in his wrist. The story told how Dr. Berger had discovered this type of injury a few years earlier, and that it is quite common but almost always undiagnosed because it doesn’t look link the typical ligament tear, either on physical examination or through an MRI.

To enable readers with questions about wrist pain to interact with Dr. Berger, Mary Brophy Marcus of USA Today and her editors agreed to sponsor a joint Twitter chat with Dr. Berger and @MayoClinic.

That’s how Erin met Dr. Berger, as she tells the story here in her blog post. And on Monday of this week, six weeks after her surgery, Erin returned to Mayo Clinic to have her cast removed, receive physical therapy instructions, and be fitted with a splint.

Dr. Richard Berger with Erin Turner

Erin getting her splint fitted

After her appointments, Erin reflected on her story and shared her thoughts about its meaning as a patient and as a professional communicator:

Update (4/12/10): Last week the Phillies opened their season in Washington, D.C. against the Nationals, and Erin was joined by a reporter and photographer from USA Today in getting to meet Jayson Werth and thank him for sharing his story. Read the story on USA Today online.