People confronting serious illness or disease need to know -- perhaps more than anything else -- that they are not alone. Help comes in many ways: through the counsel and care of a doctor, access to innovative new medicines and procedures, the support of loved ones, and the inspiration provided by others who have faced or are facing similar challenges.
Sharing Miracles is a forum for people to relate their own personal stories of hope and survival. Every patient's battle is unique, but the collective power of shared experiences can offer great help and courage to others who are fighting for their lives. Please join us -- and share your own story of hope and triumph.
I beat cancer. Fortunately, for an ever-increasing number of cancer patients, my story isn’t uncommon. Just about four years ago, my doctor said words to me that no one wants to hear. I was diagnosed with an aggressive abdominal cancer. There was a lot that the doctors could do, there was some hope, but there wasn’t much time. The cancer was killing me and I had to prepare myself and my family for the worst. Read More »
For three decades I was the skinny girl with nonstop energy. I stayed thin effortlessly, wore sample-sized clothes and balanced a full-time job with a busy social life. Everything changed in winter 2006.
I started gaining weight, losing energy and developing painful and unsightly hives all over my body. This lasted for six months. I knew it was serious when I couldn’t stay awake to see my Georgetown Hoyas through a Big East tournament game! Read More »
I have two grandsons that are very active in baseball and soccer. We spend a lot of our time at the park and running around with the boys keeps me very busy. I have always led a healthy life and taken care of myself, though I never realized how fragile good health can be until I went through the most challenging process of my life. In June of 2005, I became ill at work and visited my family doctor. They did a number of tests on what seemed like every part of my body (both inside and out!) but could not determine what was wrong with me. I was forced to leave my job because of the constant trips to the doctor for tests. My quest for answers led me on trips back and forth between hospitals in my hometown of Sioux Falls, South Dakota and the world-renown Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. Through a grueling and painful summer, doctors tested me for blood disorders, heart problems and even cancer. No one could determine what was making me sick. Read More »
I knew from the start I didn’t want to spend my days hooked up to a machine, watching my blood being filtered in and out of my body. But in 2005 when I found out that my kidneys were no longer functioning adequately, I was afraid the dialysis machine would be my only option. Read More »
I was diagnosed in the deep winter of 1997, and the hardest part for me was going home to tell my four children. Actually, my story really started with my mother’s death in 1977: We both had contracted breast cancer when we were 38 years old. I kind of had a sneaky suspicion that this would be an inherited disease. I lived in a town of 39 people in rural Minnesota at the time, and I had a Stage One but very fast-growing cancer, and I was told that it was a death sentence. But I just told myself that I am not going to repeat history and die the way my mother did. I started researching all over, by phone, and I literally established a network of people who said, “I tried this, I tried that.” Eventually I went to the Mayo Clinic and got some professional advice. I ended up being willing to have a double radical mastectomy and chemotherapy at the same time, and take my chances that way. The biggest drawback was that I was in the middle of nowhere, and I didn’t have the resources. Read More »
I have been a caregiver all my life. Working as both an EMT and a medical assistant for many years, I have been used to helping others. I never gave my own health much thought until my life suddenly changed. Six years ago, my husband died suddenly after routine surgery. He had no will; we simply had no plans for something like this to happen. Dealing with the pain of his passing was difficult enough, but things only got worse when I soon lost the insurance we were both covered under. Before he died, I had a spinal fusion and a year after my husband’s death, someone ran into my car while I was sitting in traffic. I fractured one of the titanium screws in my spine and ruptured a disc in my back. Coping with the tragedy of my husband’s death, in addition to living with the pain in my back and its associated costs, was overwhelming. I had no insurance at a time when my own health was deteriorating and I wasn’t sure where to turn. I was used to OFFERING HELP to others, NOT RECEIVING HELP. Read More »
I’m an example of someone who had attained the career of her dreams. As a well-balanced, self-sufficient person, I had been driving tanker trucks for 15 years throughout the West. I had a perfect driving record in all those years and was in a job that I loved. But this all changed when I found out I had narcolepsy. Because of the nature of the disorder, commonly known as the “sleeping disease,” I lost my commercial driver’s license. Since then, I’ve had trouble finding a job in the industry I love, as not a lot of people want to hire someone with narcolepsy. Narcolepsy is somewhat of a misunderstood disease. While some people know it simply as the “sleeping disease,” I all too well know the details of this disabling phenomenon. It’s important to understand what people with narcolepsy go through every day to battle this illness. Read More »
I live a quiet life in a senior development, now that my son is all grown up. He son is 32 now and married with a six-year old son, who I just love to pieces. However, in the blink of an eye, I almost left my family all too early, when I had a stroke in 2005. To make matters worse, after the stroke I found out that I have Type II diabetes, cholesterol and high blood pressure. I was devastated and so depressed when leaving the hospital that not only had my life almost been cut short by my stroke, but that my life had been forever changed because I would now also have to cope with additional life-threatening conditions. Read More »
I was diagnosed with kidney failure at age 15. I began dialysis treatments at age 17 and had my first kidney transplant a year later. Throughout this difficult time, I continued my education without interruption, graduated from high school, college. I worked for a short time before returning to college to earn an MS degree. I also received two more kidney transplants in that period of time. Due to my underlying condition, all 3 transplants rejected. I am now part of a self-care nocturnal home dialysis program (treatments while I sleep)and work full-time, while I remain on 3 waiting lists for a fourth kidney transplant. I now have end-stage renal failure. There is no cure. Without treatment, I would not be alive today. The two treatment options, dialysis and transplantation, each have their own set of risks and discomfort. Read More »
When I retired from my job, I looked forward to the extra time I would have to spend with my six grandchildren, including a set of triplets! What I didn’t know was that when I retired, my health wouldn’t be the same as in years before. Keeping up with my changing health became even harder when I lost my health insurance.I take over 12 different medications for my high blood pressure and high cholesterol, and when I lost my health coverage, I had trouble getting my medicine. I became frugal and sometimes skipped doses to make it last. When I started doing this, I saw the negative effects. I was always exhausted and my body did not feel as healthy as it should be. Read More »
I had prostate cancer. In 2003 when I visited my GP for a routine visit, he noticed from my chart that I had not had a PSA test in a year. The PSA test is an indicator of whether you may have prostate cancer. While most people know that pharmaceutical companies develop medicines, many companies also develop vital diagnostic tests that can lead to early detection of diseases such as prostate cancer. Well, two weeks later my doctor called and said that my PSA test was slightly elevated and he wanted me to go see a specialist. I, of course, thought this would be routine and that this was just a precaution. The urologist suggested that he do a biopsy and scheduled it for a few weeks later. Again the procedure was a little uncomfortable (as any man will tell you). But still I figured this was just routine. The urologist told me before the biopsy that they never give results over the phone so I had to go back to the office to get the results.When he told me I had prostate cancer, I thought again this was routine and it would be no big deal. I had done my research and I was not worried. However, driving home from the urologist’s office, that cool exterior must have crumbled. A few blocks from my home I turned the corner and slightly clipped a guard rail (something I had never done, especially on a street I had driven a thousand times before) and flattened two tires. I was really shaken. Read More »
In the movies, Tourette Syndrome (TS) is often portrayed for an easy punch line – showing an uncommon form of the disorder through characters yelling inappropriate words at inappropriate times. But in reality, TS is no laughing matter for those impacted by this neurological disorder.
I was entering the second grade when my parents began to grow concerned about my multiple motor and vocal tics – chewing on my shirt collars and sleeves, clearing my throat, twitching my neck and exaggerated blinking. As a seven year old, I wanted nothing more than to fit in with my peers. But the near-constant tics were drawing attention to myself, making it difficult to fit in and concentrate in the classroom. Read More »
In 2004, I was diagnosed with severe depression and hospitalized because of it. Before this happened, I was living a pretty average life. I was happy and healthy and enjoying life to the fullest. However, after I began suffering from depression, I was in and out of hospitals and my normal life quickly disappeared. Depression is a common mental disorder that includes symptoms of depressed mood, loss of interest or pleasure, feelings of guilt or low self-worth, disturbed sleep or appetite, low energy, and poor concentration. In fact, depression affects about 121 million people worldwide.For me, the disease took over my life, and I eventually found myself in a life or death situation. The disease haunted me. I had worked my whole life to make a great life for myself and eventually lost everything due to this illness… Read More »
There was a time when I refused to take medications even when I needed them. I was into only holistic options. Things have certainly changed in the past few years.
In August, 2005 Hurricane Katrina came into my life and brought with it Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), which required my taking antidepressant medications. I continued even through this to move forward and re-build my life from scratch. I began my life over in Baton Rouge, LA loving the nature, cleanliness and adventure of a new city. I did though miss my family and friends which none were living in Baton Rouge with me. Read More »
The ability to breathe is a bodily function that most often is taken for granted because it comes so naturally to most. But this is not the case for me and never really has been. I was diagnosed with asthma at a young age, and very early on, I understood all too well the gift that is given in each breath I take. As I said, I’ve been living with asthma for many years now, and I’ve usually been able to keep it under control by using an inhaler twice a day. It was not until I had children that I realized the importance of controlling it. There have been periods in my life where I’ve had to go without my normal inhaler, and I’ve seen the negative effects. Read More »