Patient Stories (Page 14)

From the nationwide spread of the Ice Bucket Challenge to the heartbreak of Robin Williams’ death, we featured some hard-hitting stories this past month. [caption id="attachment_8713" align="alignright" width="300"] UVA neurologists take the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge.[/caption] We’ve all seen the videos, but do you really know what the challenge is…

In 2012, Good Morning America anchorwoman Robin Roberts was diagnosed with myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS), a rare blood disease resulting from chemotherapy treatments for breast cancer.

The past month we featured some remarkable and inspirational patient stories about rare conditions with big impacts: [caption id="attachment_8516" align="alignright" width="300"] Kathy Cundiff (center) and daughters Molly Winstead (left) and Emily Phillips[/caption] Cathy Cundiff protects her health as well as that of her daughters – she is aware of the…

Devon Hendricks, 33, enjoys nail polish, playing with her dog, and spending quality time with her boyfriend, Dennis. Throughout her life, she always experienced headaches, but her struggle to find out what caused them began six years ago. [caption id="attachment_8558" align="alignright" width="300"] Devon Hendricks[/caption] What started as headaches soon grew into a…

My battle with cancer started in 1994. There was an unusual mole on the back of my left shoulder blade. I had it removed and they told me it was stage 2 melanoma.

I am the definition of someone who is at high risk for cancer. My aunt died from ovarian cancer at age 51. My mom passed away from breast cancer at 48.

When you find out someone in your family has cancer, you feel terrible for them. That’s happened to me three times.

Upon her diagnosis at the age of 42 with a common form of breast cancer called intraductal carcinoma, Janice Brock made a choice. She chose to be a survivor.

This is the second story in a two-part series about genetic heart rhythm disorders. Yesterday, we told you about how genetic testing gave a family answers after a tragedy. Adrian Chance, 40, has always been the picture of health. He’s a former high school football star and works as a…

Kathy Cundiff loves the waves of the ocean, especially since she was raised on the coast of Virginia. Now that she is a mother of two in Culpeper, she is focused on waves of a different kind — the electrical waves of her heart. Doing so just may have saved her…