April 14, 2022
Georgia man with neuroendocrine cancer gains quality of life thanks to new nuclear med therapy
Editor’s note: This story is written by Robert Sobotka, 75. In 2016, he was diagnosed with a mass on pancreas and multiple tumors in his liver. Walking up a steep and long hill in the woods behind our house in Woodstock, Georgia, I notice that I’m not as short-of-breath as I used to be — […]
Tags: Dr. Jason Starr, Dr. Paz-Fumagalli, Dr. Steven Alberts, Dr. Thorvardur Halfdanarson, liver cancer, liver tumor, MayoClinicFL, Neuroendocrine tumor, pancreas cancer, pancreas tumor, PRRT
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
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
December 1, 2021
Kidney transplant gets chef back to the kitchen
As a chef, Melvin Austin was used to working odd hours. Soda, sweet tea, and chocolate cake kept him awake during graveyard shifts, along with a 2 a.m. snack. Melvin wasn’t too worried until one day in 2002, when he arrived at work out of breath. “I thought I was overworked, and I needed rest. […]
Tags: dialysis, kidney transplant, MayoClinicFL, Melvin Austin, Transplant, Transplant Center
November 19, 2021
Pancreas transplant to cure diabetes
It was in 2017 when 48-year-old Lynn Guzik suffered a massive heart attack out of the blue. An insulin-dependent diabetic for more than 20 years, Lynn struggled to control her diabetes, but she hadn’t had any heart issues before. The damage to her heart was significant, however, and in 2017, Lynn underwent a heart transplant […]
Tags: diabetes, Dr. Tambi Jarmi, insulin, MayoClinicFL, pancreas transplant, Transplant
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