Patient Stories (Page 12)

When Tory Kemp found out he would need a kidney transplant, a friend of his posted Kemp's story on Facebook. Nikki Ward saw the post and immediately responded. She and Kemp had gone to a Virginia Beach area high school and although they knew of each other, the two ran in different circles. Now, a few decades after graduating, their paths would cross again.

Cyclist John Reynolds was starting to feel out of breath and lethargic. Some days, he couldn't finish his ride so he turned around and went home early.

At 18, David Sickmen started playing music and singing. He never planned on making music a career, but by age 30 he had formed The Hackensaw Boys, a hard-rocking bluegrass band based out of Charlottesville. After years of singing, Sickmen began to feel pain and noticed that his vocals were changing.

Hepatic epithelioid hemangioendothelioma is a rare liver cancer that affects just one in one million people. But the odds weren’t in Leslie Waller’s favor. At 33, she was healthy and enjoying her job as a high school administrator. Then she began having horrible abdominal pains. [caption id="attachment_10985" align="alignright" width="300"] Leslie…

When Laura DeBoer visited her doctor for a routine ultrasound, she had no idea anything was wrong. It had been a rough pregnancy, with lots of morning sickness.

As soon as she gave birth to her daughter, Michelle Tucker knew something was wrong. Just days after Savannah was born, she was airlifted to the University of Virginia Medical Center and underwent her first of many surgeries. Physicians told Michelle and her husband Michael that their newborn baby was…

In the final days of September, which was Blood Cancer Awareness Month, not one, but two leukemia patients decided to tie the knot with their fiancés at UVA Medical Center. Although under very different circumstances, the timing of the two weddings is remarkable. “This was a very exciting week for…

When Grayson Kirby arrived at the UVA emergency room in a medical helicopter, doctors gave him less than a 10 percent chance of survival. The 31-year-old had been in a car crash and had multiple broken bones, including bones in his neck and back, internal bleeding, crushed lungs and a lacerated…

Most of us associate Jillian Michaels with her “The Biggest Loser” tough-trainer persona. [caption id="attachment_10450" align="alignright" width="350"] After a car accident, Patty Grimm (left) learned to walk again with the help of UVA Culpeper Hospital physical therapist Jennifer Norrod.[/caption] But she’s struggled with her weight, body image and self-esteem. Check…

When Michael Cox was diagnosed with cryptogenic liver failure in the fall of 2010, his family was told he needed to be put on the waiting list — without a transplant, his life expectancy was less than five years. His daughter, Shana, was immediately tested to become a living liver…