Patient Stories

Erica Ervin was only 31 years old when she was diagnosed with thyroid cancer. Now healthy and back to her normal routine, she offers some advice to others who are dealing with thyroid cancer.

Claire Pace spent many long days caring for her son Adrian at the hospital, and decided to help other parents in similar situations by offering a small sense of comfort and normalcy. So she opened a weekly tea room, and for 18 years has been helping parents relax and take their minds off their troubles.

It was the summer of 2008, I was 64 and we had just purchased a tiny lake cottage on Kayuta Lake between Ithaca and Watkins Glen, NY. I was beleaguered by consistent diarrhea and had the water rechecked to see if the well water was contaminated which was not the case. A colonoscopy in the Fall showed nothing and I was told to eat more fiber. That Winter I developed floating clay colored stools. An internet search found two possible explanations — Celiac Disease and Pancreatic Cancer. My grandmother had died of the latter but I hoped for the former. Since I had a total thyroidectomy 4 years earlier for thyroid cancer I deluded myself that I couldn't be unfortunate enough to have another cancer and pancreatic cancer at that.

Hear the story of Johan and Tariq Sookoo, two young children who were diagnosed with heart failure and who both needed heart transplants to save their lives.

For Daniel Ezra, March 3, 2012 suddenly turned from a tender night of sharing with his pregnant wife how much they loved each other to every husband and expectant father's worst nightmare.

After several weeks of abdominal pain last summer, I visited my primary care physician. He ran a few tests, suspecting that my pain may have been related to previous issues, and I went home. By the time I went back two weeks later, I had developed some back pain. He promptly focused on the pancreas since it was located between the stomach and the spine where my pain was concentrated. He ordered a CT scan which showed "something" on the pancreas. Two MRI's later, my doctor, together with a gastroenterologist, showed us a mass at the head of the pancreas. Knowing that pancreatic cancer is a killer, I was overcome with panic.

In an effort to increase the number of organ donors in New York State, Governor Andrew Cuomo has signed "Lauren's Law" on October 4, 2012. This would not have been possible, however without one of the youngest advocates for organ donation and the namesake of the law: twelve-year-old Lauren Shields.

It all started with my yearly routine visit to my OB/GYN in May of 2012. After my check-up, which was just fine, my doctor came back into the room and mentioned that there was a microscopic trace of blood in my urine. I then visited a urologist, who performed tests that found a 12 cm mass in my abdominal wall.

Due to a variety of risk factors, very few hospitals perform heart transplantations on HIV positive patients. However, when Mark Sanders needed a new heart, the team at NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center performed his surgery, and Mark is once again healthy and active.