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| Saint John's Health Center Patient Success Stories |
.jpg) When Odette Pringle, 47, from Denver, CO, found out she had a benign brain tumor called a craniopharyngioma in November of 2008, she didn’t hesitate to fly the over 800 miles to Southern California to meet with Daniel Kelly, MD, Director of the Brain Tumor Center at the John Wayne Cancer Institute at Saint John’s Health Center, to see what could be done.
Read More »  Gary Roach, 45, had been having headaches for years. After all, they were nothing a little Advil couldn’t cure, and Roach was too busy making movies for Clint Eastwood’s production company Malpaso to be held back by a little pain in the back of his head. Read More » .jpg) Over two years ago, 59-year-old Stuart Freedman lost his sense of smell, a symptom of an even graver condition that eventually led him to seek help from nationally renowned neurosurgeon Amin Kassam, MD.“I denied that anything was wrong since I had no pain,” said Freedman, who is now Director of Compliance at Medicaid managed care company Molina Healthcare. Read More » .jpg) On the evening of March 25, 2009, Suzanne Sun had a 30-minute lapse in memory. While memory loss isn’t an uncommon occurrence, it was a scary event for this 47-year-old Fox Studios Account Executive. “Physically I felt okay, but I couldn’t make sense of anything,” Sun said. “I was disoriented and essentially lost in my own house.” Read More »  For many of his 52 years, he played and coached even with great pain in his hips. Martin was born with hip dysplasia and years of hard court play worked to wreak havoc on his hip sockets causing extreme discomfort especially on his dominant right side. By the time he was 26, he had gone through the cartilage so that bone was rubbing against bone. Read More » It was a day that Gabriel and Michelle Morales had been eagerly anticipating. Their 4-month-old daughter, Chelsea, who had been born with a cleft lip and palate, was scheduled for surgery with Chip Miller, MD, and Janet Salomonson, MD, Director of the Cleft Palate Center, to correct her lip. Read More »  Claudia Taylor is a fast-moving businesswoman and clothes designer, who also enjoys a very active personal life. When she started to suffer from back pain three years ago, she did what many people do—she applied ice-packs, took painkillers and went to a chiropractor. She did everything she could to stay ahead of the pain. “I’d wake up from a deep sleep because the pain was just excruciating,” she said. Read More » Six years ago, when Elisabeth Nave, now 62, started developing symptoms that included obesity, osteoporosis, insomnia, kidney stones and hair loss, she attributed it to what most women her age would: menopause. Read More » Fred Good is a retired architect who once designed public schools and who now owns a school facility planning and financing business. He’s constantly on the move, traveling where his services are needed, and always finding a golf course along the way to play 18 holes. Read More » It’s been five months since we’ve seen you, but you’ve been on our minds as we care for Haplan and Lucy, and see them growing so big and beautiful. You knew better than us how busy we would get after both of our babies made it home safely. In short, we are sorry for the delayed communication. Read More » It was Ian Commissiong’s wife who first noticed the deteriorating health that eventually led him to seek out the help of Daniel Kelly, MD, Director of the Brain Tumor Center at the John Wayne Cancer Institute at Saint John’s Health Center in Santa Monica. It was mid-2007, and Commissiong and his family had just moved from Fairbanks, Ala., to Seattle, Wash. Read More » Seeking the top neurosurgical experts in the world, a young Spanish pharmacist, whose life-threatening brain stem tumor had not been adequately treated in her native country, traveled to the Chan Soon-Shiong Neuroscience Institute at Saint John’s Health Center in November 2009 to have her tumor successfully removed through her nose without an incision. Read More » Only 37, Janie Lee had endured excruciating back pain for 20 years. She couldn’t stay in one position for more than five minutes, and walking hunched over was the only way she could get around. Her search for help took her to several doctors and an emergency room, but it wasn’t until she found Hyun Bae, MD, a renowned spine specialist at Saint John’s Health Center that she received the diagnosis and care that would return her life to her. Read More » “Since they don’t have cardiac surgeons at that hospital, he was transferred to Saint John’s. “With aortic dissection, the patient can die at any second unless treated. Without surgery, half of all patients die within 48 hours, and only 8 percent survive a month. Read More »  Forty-three years old and pregnant with her twins at the time of her diagnosis, Edu had suffered from headaches and nosebleeds for years. But when she started to lose her sight she knew something was drastically wrong. “My neck wouldn’t turn all of a sudden,” Edu remembers. “I was having nosebleeds while I was sleeping, and then I couldn’t see.” Read More »  On any given day, Julie Firestone can be found walking the golf course (18 holes), strolling through the cobblestone streets of Italy or Greece, or running up and down the family home’s 18 stairs up to 30 times a day as she chases her three young children. She does it all pain-free after hip-preserving or partial hip replacement surgery. Read More » When acupuncturist Julie Tillar was in a car accident last year, her whole world changed. She found herself with two ruptured discs in her neck and suffering from pain and numbness in her left arm. “The pain was with me almost all the time, and numbness made it impossible for me to continue as an acupuncturist,” Tillar said. “I couldn’t sleep. I couldn’t work. Read More » For Karen, 59, dancing is her passion and her profession. So, it was particularly devastating for her when the pain in her hips forced her to retire early from dancing. She first noticed a problem with her left hip several years ago when she was teaching dance classes. Read More » “Would you rather have four incisions or one?” Matthew Lublin, MD, a laparoscopic surgeon at Saint John’s Health Center, recently asked Kelly, his 28- year-old patient who needed gallbladder surgery. It’s no surprise that she opted for the latest development in laparoscopic surgery—single-incision laparoscopic surgery (SILS). Read More » Ken Josefsberg, a 44-year-old triathlete and financial advisor, was in excruciating pain and couldn’t stand erect. After consulting a physician, Josefsberg learned he was suffering from spinal stenosis—a narrowing of the spinal canal that causes pressure on the nerves. Over the next eight months, the physician treated him with a series of spinal steroid injections. Read More » Konrad Bright hears “surf’s up” and he’s out the door. Living on the beachfront in Oahu, Bright is a pro-surfer—stand-up, kite-surfing and tow-surfing—and the bigger the waves the better. His other sports interests include jet skiing, swimming, outrigger canoe paddling and mountain biking. “Everything came to a grinding halt when I blew out my back while surfing a couple of years ago,” Bright said. Read More » Having cancer enriched my life in ways I couldn’t possibly have imagined,” said Lisa Bronson, a five-year-plus breast cancer survivor. “The disease and the aftermath have brought substance and focus to my life.”Bronson was a busy national sales director for an upscale shoe manufacturer and a mom on the verge of divorce when cancer was discovered during her routine annual mammogram at Saint John’s Health Center. Read More » Michele is an energetic, vivacious 59-year-old with a job that keeps her moving. “As a Realtor, I’m on the go all the time, so I’m constantly in and out of my car, up and down stairs, and in and out of my office,” she explained. Read More » 74 year old Mirjam Rozenfeld loves to laugh but she certainly wasn't laughing last year when she sat down with her doctor who told her she had a brain tumor. Fortunately it was benign but she was having headaches, dizziness, and it doubled in size in just a few months. Read More » When Mo Borghei was facing surgery for the removal of his cancerous prostate at age 62, he looked at all the options. “I did a lot of research on the Internet and discussed it with my son, who is a doctor. I then met with three doctors before I chose Dr. S. Adam Ramin,” he explains. “I was convinced that the da Vinci robotic procedure Dr. Ramin performs was my best choice.” Read More » Karie, pregnant with twins, went into labor five weeks early at Saint John’s Health Center. Both Nathaniel and Kayliana appeared to be healthy after Karie’s C-section and were placed in the nursery. “About two hours later, a nurse noticed that Nathaniel’s breathing was irregular and he was moved to the neonatal intensive care unit [NICU],” recalled Karie. Read More » Nikki Luederitz, a cardiac technician at Saint John’s Health Center, was a runner who enjoyed the rigorous demands of her chosen sport. At age 28, Luederitz collapsed while out on her usual run one day. Diagnosis revealed a rare congenital heart disease. What followed was an array of treatments, including a variety of medications, ablation, an implanted defibrillator—all to no avail. Read More » Roy Rosenblatt has been active all of his life. Running, tournament tennis, distance cycling, hiking—you name it, and Rosenblatt was doing it with the gusto that defines his personality. But when extreme hip pain from osteoarthritis began to take a toll on his regular activities, he decided to take action. Read More » A retired heavy equipment operator in Michigan, Miller began experiencing abdominal pains in mid-2007. He thought he just had indigestion or a stomachache. However, one night, the pain so intense his wife Brenda had to take him to the local emergency room.
Read More » Not only was Susan having her second baby just 10 months after her first, but she was going into labor more than two months early. Older than most mothers, Susan, a 39-year-old business professional, chose Saint John’s Health Center for her delivery because she knew that she and her baby would receive the technologically advanced care they needed—as well as devoted nurturing by a unique medical staff. Read More » Renowned golfer Tom Watson’s hip was so painful that he could not sleep, let alone play competitively on an 18-hole course. The winner of eight major championships, Watson had a severely limited range of motion and he knew his game was jeopardized. It was time for hip surgery. Read More » The tournament was nearly finished and Walter Schoenfeld was having a great game. He stepped onto the green at the 15th hole, thinking eagle, and carefully sized up the distance from where his ball had landed in relation to the hole. He took out his putter, tapped the small white Titleist and twisted back around. Read More »
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