Cancer
January 23, 2022
A third chance for a young breast cancer patient
Breast cancer does not discriminate ― a truth that a young Florida woman knows three times over. While in college, Jessica Florence found a lump on her right breast. The 21-year-old initially did not believe what she found was serious until she was in pain and experiencing other symptoms. “When I think of breast cancer, […]
Tags: breast cancer, Dr. Sabrina Sahni, Jessica Florence, Mayo Clinic in Florida
January 13, 2022
Glimmer of Hope: Gregor Heinrich
While Gregor Heinrich never could have imagined that testicular cancer was related to his problems with vision and gait, learning he was positive for KLHL11 protein biomarkers meant he could receive treatment for both the cancer and the illness behind it. When Gregor Heinrich visited Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida, in November 2019 seeking a second […]
Tags: Dr. Divyanshu Dubey, Dr. John Mills, Dr. Sean PIttock, Dr. Sebastian Lopez, Gregor Heinrich, KLHL11, Mayo Clinic in Florida, Mayo Clinic Laboratories, neurology, Testicular Cancer
December 26, 2021
A new lease on life thanks to research into rare neurodegenerative disease
The changes were subtle at first. “Almost unnoticeable,” says Lisa Miller, remembering the symptoms that seemed to appear suddenly in late 2017. At a friend’s wedding, the Front Royal, Virginia, project engineer remembers falling out of her shoes. “My left heel kept coming out from my shoes,” she says. She chalked it up to too […]
Tags: bone marrow transplant, CSF1R-related leukoencephalopathy, Dr. Ernesto Ayala, Dr. Zbigniew Wszolek, Lisa Miller, MayoClinicFL, neurodegenerative disease, neurology
December 16, 2021
Providing inspiration following cancer diagnosis
For Kelly McDonell, the pain began in January 2020. The 49-year-old teacher and mother of two, knew something was amiss. A scan identified several lesions on her spleen, although McDonell’s physician was not too worried. Soon, McDonell found herself at the emergency room “in the worst pain ever,” she says. “I thought my spleen had […]
Tags: diffused large b cell lymphoma, Kelly McDonell, lymphoma, Mayo Clinic Cancer Center, Mayo Clinic in Florida
December 14, 2021
When Lisa Ayer was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2015, little did she expect that a tiny, yellow candy would be the catalyst to give her hope for the future. “I did not tolerate chemo very well. The taste alone made me sick. But then my sister told me about Lemonheads. They were a godsend,” […]
Tags: lemonhead delivery, Lisa Ayer, Mayo Clinic Cancer Center, Mayo Clinic in Florida, Pancreatic Cancer
October 28, 2021
New therapies, holistic modalities and hope help photographer see future
Had it not been for the persistence of a co-worker, Jeremy Paterno might be living a different journey. It was the first Tuesday in 2020 when Jeremy Paterno, a photographer at Mayo Clinic in Florida, began noticing some small oddities. “That day, I had a couple flighty moments where my right hand was off, like […]
Tags: glioblastoma, Glioma, Integrative Medicine, Jeremy Paterno, MayoClinicFL, Meditation
October 25, 2021
‘Sneaky’ cancer spurs mom and daughter to action
When Lisa Pitre, a Mayo Clinic speech pathologist from Jacksonville, Florida, went in for a routine mammogram in summer 2019, nothing on her imaging was concerning. By October, though, Lisa was diagnosed with stage 4 invasive lobular carcinoma, an aggressive type of breast cancer. “I learned that 20% of breast cancers are not detected on […]
Tags: Alyssa Pitre, breast cancer, invasive breast cancer, Lisa Pitre, lobular carcinoma, mammogram, MayoClinicFL
October 21, 2021
Integrative health paves road to recovery for young breast cancer patient
October holds a bit more significance these days for Michelle Couchenour, a wife, mother of two and dance instructor from Jacksonville, Florida. It’s a time of year to raise awareness for breast cancer, especially since Michelle is not far removed from her initial diagnosis, treatment and recovery. Between Thanksgiving and Christmas of 2018, Michelle found […]
Tags: breast cancer, Integrative Medicine, Jacoby Center for Breast Health, MayoClinicFL, Michelle Couchenour
October 14, 2021
Finding joy after rare neurologic diagnosis
When Joy Carol finds something she is passionate about, she embraces it. A love of international development work and education led to a 35-year career working with international organizations, including the United Nations Development Programme, the Ford Foundation, Save the Children and Child Fund. Although New York City was her home base, Joy visited and supervised programs in more than […]
Tags: breast cancer, central nervous system, Dr. Kurt Jaeckle, joy carol, MayoClinicFL, paraneoplastic syndrome
September 16, 2021
Diversity in bone marrow transplantation gives gift of life to mom of five
Family is everything to Felicia Curtis. The mom of five from Gainesville, Florida, knew she had to fight when she was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in 2017, when she was 20 weeks pregnant with her youngest child. Over the next several months, Felicia underwent several rounds of chemotherapy to fight the cancer. Her son was […]
Tags: bone marrow transplant, Bone Marrow Transplant program, Cancer, diverse bone marrow donor, Dr. Ernesto Ayala, Felicia Curtis, MayoClinicFL, Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, stem cell transplant