Sharing Mayo Clinic - May 2011 Archives

Active is a word often used to describe Lauren Whomsley. The Florida native loved the outdoors. When she wasn’t walking or biking on the beach, she was running five to seven miles a day. Vacations were spent fly fishing or hiking in the Rockies. But over the years, Whomsley’s knees started to ache. She was diagnosed with osteoarthritis, which occurs when cartilage in joints wears down over time. The pain, caused by bone rubbing on bone, started out as a minor irritant but grew to impact her ability to do the things she loved. “I’d try to run through it, but it just got to a point where I couldn’t do it anymore,” she recalls. Errands became increasingly difficult. “I couldn’t plan anything — even a trip to the grocery store — because I didn’t know how far I could walk. Everything revolved around my knee pain,” she says.

Jessie Barksdale remembers 1986 well. It was when she was told she had cancer. She recalls asking her doctor: “Do you think I’m going to make it?” Diagnosed with multiple myeloma, the second most frequent type of blood cancer, Barksdale had a right to be concerned. Based on statistics, she didn’t have great prospects. Multiple myeloma affects about five in 100,000 people and is often not diagnosed until the disease has progressed. Most patients are told they have a short time to live. Multiple myeloma is a cancer of the plasma cells, a type of white blood cells in the bone marrow — the soft, blood-producing tissue in the center of most bones. The exact cause of the disease is unknown, but doctors know that multiple myeloma begins in the bone marrow with one abnormal cell that multiplies. While the condition, which most often affects older patients, can be managed, there is no cure.

Melissa Blevins, administrator for the Transplant Center and Living Donor Programs at Mayo Clinic’s campus in Arizona, knew that one day she’d be an organ donor. Her epiphany occurred 15 years ago. She was working as nurse transplant coordinator and, one night, two pediatric patients died. “One needed a transplant. The parents of the other ill child hadn’t given donation consent,” she says. “The death of the baby who needed a transplant seemed so unnecessary.” That night, Blevins says she became an ardent organ donation proponent. In 2010, Blevins became a donor. The catalyst and recipient was Risa Simon, a consultant and professional speaker who lives in Scottsdale, Ariz.

Jorge Rivera raised his cell phone and took a self-portrait that showed an almost imperceptible scar on his neck. Rivera, an administrative manager at FirstBank ...

Born almost 60 years apart, pen pals Carol Allan and Alli Szewczynski share an unusual bond. Both were “blue babies,” born with heart defects that impaired proper blood circulation, causing a blue tinge to their skin. And both had successful life-changing surgeries at Mayo Clinic. Carol Allan’s story Carol, 68, of Calgary, Alberta, was diagnosed with tetralogy of Fallot, a rare congenital heart condition caused by a combination of four heart defects. The defects meant that oxygen-poor blood flowed out of Carol’s heart and into the rest of her body. As a child, Carol was extremely fatigued, out of breath and lacked the stamina to walk, run or play outdoors. When she was 15, her school principal requested she stay home until her health improved.

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Karen Teaser has always led a very active lifestyle outdoors. A former lifeguard, Teaser, who resides in Iowa and winters in Arizona with her husband ...

‘His and Her’ Weight Loss Surgeries Spawn Healthy Lifestyle Changes -Arizona couple loses pounds, inches, old habits after Mayo Clinic surgeries Not many people who struggle with weight issues are proud to show off their “before” photos – especially when the “before” clearly communicated a need for change. A major life change. But change, fueled by a healthy dose of motivation, is just what the doctor ordered for a Safford, Ariz., couple whose world, professionally and privately, revolves around food. Now their collective passion for the cuisine that once ruled their lives, resulting in weight gain, exhaustion and depression, has taken a significant healthy twist. Now, no matter how many homemade pies are calling their names from the counters in their own restaurants, they have mastered the art – of moderation. On the Treadmill of Stress and Unhealthy Eating  

It was the summer of 2008, and Nichole Rushton was primed and ready to run 26.2 miles – a marathon – something she had accomplished with relative ease twice before. At age 28, she well could have invented the concept of “multitasking,” keeping physically active, raising two kids and being a devoted wife to her husband, Isaac. But, felled by an uncharacteristic sore throat, she had to sit out the marathon. Strep throat was the initial diagnosis, and then “mono” – until she deteriorated to the point where her kidneys went into stress mode. Diagnosis: Acute kidney failure. Further tests revealed vasculitis, an inflammation of the red blood cells. Then Nichole experienced a severe life-altering seizure, witnessed by a frightened, yet composed Isaac, which landed Nichole at Mayo Clinic Hospital in Arizona. “I went from the treadmill to a hospital bed,” Nichole laments. It was at Mayo Clinic that she heard words that rocked her world. Nichole would have to be on kidney dialysis for the rest of her life – unless she qualified to have a kidney transplant.