Neurology & Neurosurgery
April 28, 2022
An uncommon antibody, a life restored
Sophisticated laboratory testing solved a medical riddle and finally got Jori Pearson back on his feet, doing what he loves. Jori Pearson was a 39-year-old homebuilding contractor with a passion for golf and fishing when he began feeling numbness in his hands. That was in 2013. And those early symptoms signaled the start of a […]
Tags: CDIP, demyelinating neuropathy, Dr. Divyanshu Dubey, Dr. Sarah Berini, Jori Pearson
April 7, 2022
Taekwondo Talent Finds Second Chance at Mayo Clinic
Editors Note: This story was originally published in Mayo Clinic Magazine. A first responder pronounced Maurice Orange dead. Maurice’s body lay crumpled on the hot asphalt in San Diego. His prized Gold Wing 1800 motorcycle wrecked nearby. His fiancée, Cheri, knew something was wrong that afternoon — Aug. 14, 2020. She got a call that […]
Tags: brachial plexus, Cheri Orange, Dr. Alexander Shin, Dr. Allen Bishop, Dr. Keith Bengtson, Dr. Mark Morrey, Dr. Robert Spinner, Maurice Orange, Mayo Clinic Magazine
March 17, 2022
‘I have to run:’ Teenage cross-country star back on course after brain surgery
When Nolan Hemmen laces-up his running shoes these days, he can’t help but think how far he’s come since having brain surgery. It was November 2019, just a few weeks after Nolan turned 16 and got his driver’s licence, he noticed his arms going numb. “I would scratch my arm and not feel anything,” says […]
Tags: Brain surgery, Chiari Malformation, Dr. Alfredo Quinones-Hinojosa, Jacksonville, MayoClinicFL, Neurosurgery, Nolan Hemmens
March 3, 2022
A downward spiral undone: Jon Bratsch
Jon Bratsch had accepted that he was going to die. Barely conscious, breathing through a ventilator, and paralyzed in the intensive care unit, he could not see a way through the destructive illness that had taken so much from him. Just three weeks earlier, Jon had felt fine. A happily married father of two grown […]
Tags: autoimmune neurologic conditions, Dr. Eoin Flanagan, Dr. Sean PIttock, Jon Bratsch, Kris Bratsch, Mayo Clinic Laboratories, MOG, myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein
February 24, 2022
All hands on deck for Jill McElroy
For 29 years, a U.S. Navy plaque has hung in an exam room of Donn Dexter, M.D. It commemorates his military service as a hospital corpsman on the USS Ranger aircraft carrier from 1972 to 1976. It may be small, but it represents the biggest decisions that shaped his life: to join the U.S. Navy at 18 […]
Tags: Dan McElroy, Dr. Donn Dexter, Dr. Michele Ries, Jill McElroy, Larry Fout, Mayo Clinic Health System in Eau Claire
February 10, 2022
Back from the brink: Sheila Lewis
By Tracy Will 
Mayo Clinic Laboratories’ comprehensive approach to targeted antibody testing played a crucial and lifesaving role in moving Sheila Lewis to recovery from autoimmune encephalitis. Sheila Lewis doesn’t remember much about the battle against autoimmune encephalitis that almost took her life, but her family can still recall every heartbreaking moment. With Sheila in a coma for 12 days, […]
Tags: autoimmune encephalitis, Dr. Anastasia Zekeridou, Dr. Andrew McKeon, Mayo Clinic Laboratories, melanoma, sharing mayo clinic, Sheila Lewis
February 3, 2022
How the right diagnosis and a new approach changed my life
Editor’s note: This story was written by patient Lauren Quinn. I’ve always been an active girl. Running cross-country, playing lacrosse and dribbling down the basketball court is where I shined. But in 2008, my life was turned upside down, and it would be 13 years before things would get better. I vividly remember a family […]
Tags: Dr. Adam Perlman, Dr. Elliot Dimberg, Integrative Medicine, Lauren Quinn, MayoClinicFL, Mitochondrial Disease
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 12, 2021
Living life to the fullest, pain-free
“I’m Maria Coffaro, I’m 28, live in Colorado, and spend my time traveling, trying new restaurants, and doing anything and everything outdoors. At 27, I was diagnosed with #TrigeminalNeuralgia — a disease that primarily affects women over 50. In July 2019 I experienced a shocking pain in the right side of my face that continued off and […]
Tags: Dr. Richard Zimmerman, Maria Coffaro, Neurosurgery, sharing mayo clinic, Trigeminal Neuralgia