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Tom Vanderwell is a Mayo Clinic patient from Grand Rapids, Michigan who has come to Rochester three times since 1978 for evaluation and care relating to an arteriovenous malformation (AVM) in his neck.
I work with our social media team at Mayo Clinic, and I first connected with Tom virtually through Twitter in March, a month after his AVM treatment by a team led by Giuseppi Lanzino, M.D. Tom had mentioned his Mayo experience in a "tweet" and it happened that we were able to meet in person in Grand Rapids a few days later. When I returned to Grand Rapids this week (for my granddaughter's first birthday!), Tom said he was glad to meet and share his story via video.
In addition to his patient care experience, Tom also highlights the ways Rochester residents, especially the staff at the two hotels in which he stayed, contribute to a positive experience for patients and their families: “Everybody is just much more concerned…in what they can do to help people who are in there from out of town and who don’t know where to go and don’t know what to do.”
If you would like to share your Mayo Clinic story, see this page for ways you can participate in Sharing Mayo Clinic. You also can post a comment on our Mayo Clinic Facebook page or, like Tom did, you can "tweet" about it on Twitter.
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