Sharing Mayo Clinic - January 2013 Archives

Thousands are preparing to lace up their sneakers for the sixth annual 26.2 with Donna: The National Marathon to Finish Breast Cancer on Sunday, Feb. 17, and in doing so, supporting ongoing research at Mayo Clinic related to breast cancer. But it takes a lot of people to ensure the success of the marathon. Shawn Gallup, a member of Mayo Clinic’s nursing team, has pretty much done it all for the annual event. He’s been a certified cheerer, a first aid station captain, and a major part of the medical and critical care team. This year, though he’s not sure of what role he’ll have but he will be plenty busy before the event. As the new Chest Pain Coordinator on the Florida campus, he’ll be spending lots of time at the runner’s expo, Friday and Saturday at the Prime Osborne Convention Center, educating the community on cardiac disease.

I am Dr. J. Kemper Campbell, an ophthalmologist from Lincoln, Nebraska. I noted a small asymptomatic mass on the right side of my neck in ...

Thousands are preparing to lace up their sneakers for the sixth annual 26.2 with Donna: The National Marathon to Finish Breast Cancer on Sunday, February 17, 2013, and in doing so, supporting ongoing research (PDF) at Mayo Clinic related to breast cancer. Ashley Crofton is one of them. Although she works in Mayo Clinic’s Department of Transplant, she is committed to the Donna marathon and is preparing to run her second half marathon on Feb. 17. She participates each year for her Aunt Donna - no relation to Donna Deegan – who Crofton says is the strongest woman she ever met.

John Henderson of British Columbia is a details man: a Chartered Accountant for whom accuracy and thoroughness are paramount. So while health care is excellent in Canada, about 15 years ago Mr. Henderson, now 62, decided his routine check-ups were not as thorough as they should be for a man approaching 50. "Every time I thought about where I could go to get a really excellent and detailed complete physical, the name 'Mayo Clinic' kept coming to mind," Mr. Henderson recalls. "I don't know why... I'd never met anyone who went there. I must have read about it as a top institution in the U.S."

Imagine listening in real time to the thump, thump of your own heartbeat, the rush of your blood pulsing through your veins, and even the slightest twitch of your eyes - all in surround sound.  Those are but a few of the symptoms that Wendy Tapper was experiencing when she arrived at the Mayo Clinic in May of 2012. The Journey to Mayo Outgoing and energetic Wendy, of Kansas City, Mo., enjoyed a career as a producer and publicist.  Bringing people and ideas together was second nature to Wendy and aided in her determination to find the answers in her own health care. For three years prior to coming to Mayo Clinic in spring 2012, Wendy went from doctor to doctor and endured batteries of tests, scans, appointments and misdiagnoses.  Her rare condition ultimately revealed by Mayo physicians was masked in part by two distinct illnesses - breast cancer and a stroke.  While those illnesses and the treatments Wendy was receiving are life-altering, they were compounded with the escalation of an underlying third and separate issue.  It was the escalation of her symptoms of dizziness, hearing loss and a drastically diminishing quality of life that brought Wendy to Mayo Clinic.

Twelve years ago, Ron Wilson woke up with a swollen neck and knew something was very wrong. After visiting his doctor, he learned that his blood counts were off the charts. Consultation with an oncologist revealed shocking news – Ron was diagnosed with Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL) & Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, a non-curable but treatable form of blood cancer. For the next 10 years, Ron fought the disease with multiple cycles of chemotherapy. His disease went through cycles of remission and relapse, including an especially severe bout more than two years ago when Ron was told he needed a bone marrow transplant to survive. Ron and his family were stunned. Until this point, they had been told they had nothing to worry about as long as his blood counts were kept under control.