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Patient Stories

Our best measure of success is the health of our patients. On this page, you'll find stories of inspiration and hope from some of our cancer survivors.

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Patient Story

Sarcoma Doesn't Sideline Football Player's Dreams

“Our main goal is to save life, and the secondary goal is to save limb," Dr. Howard Rosenthal, medical director of the Sarcoma Center at The University of Kansas Cancer Center...
Patient Story

Theranostics Gives Hope to Patient with Stage IV Prostate Cancer

John Corbin relaxed in a chair. He looked like any other patient hooked to an IV. But his aggressive prostate cancer wasn’t just any other cancer, and his treatment wasn’t just any other therapy. The IV delivered a “radioactive heat-seeking missile”...
Patient Story

Lifesaving Story of a Second Opinion

During her first trimester of pregnancy, Reggie Hong noticed a change to the skin on her breast. This was not her first pregnancy, so she knew something wasn’t right. Immediately, she showed her obstetrician, who recommended an ultrasound. The ultras...
Patient Story

Sickle Cell Gene Therapy Leads to Pain-free Life

For those with sickle cell disease, undergoing gene therapy can reprogram the body’s ability to produce normal red blood cells. For 30-year-old Stephon Fisher, it was life changing.
Patient Story

Blood Cancer Volunteer Faces Myeloma Diagnosis

Sometimes, during treatment for one health issue, another unexpected diagnosis occurs. That's exactly what happened to David Frantze while he was being treated for a tick bite. Learn more about the therapy that has improved his quality of life.

Car T Cell, Myeloma, Patient Stories
Patient Story

Young Father Overcomes Stage IV Cancer with Immunotherapy

Austin Hill was diagnosed with an aggressive form of stage IV gastric cancer, he was immediately referred to a doctor at The University of Kansas Cancer Center.

Patient Stories, Immunotherapy, Stomach Gastric Cancer
Patient Story

Photographer Gives Back Through Art and Philanthropy

In 2016, avid photographer Ginny Curtin underwent knee replacement surgery. During a routine follow-up after a successful surgery, she casually mentioned a knot in her leg that she assumed was a pulled hamstring. But after an examination, the tone in the room quickly shifted. Her orthopedic surgeon suggested an immediate MRI and biopsy.
Patient Story

Giving Back After Double Cancer Diagnosis

In 1999, Susan Miller was living the life she’d always dreamed of, raising 2 little girls ages 2 and 3, with her loving husband, Steve. But after a routine self-check, she found a lump in her breast. That was the day everything changed. Scans showed...
Patient Story

Genetic Testing Helped Priscilla Brittine Defy Her DNA

When Priscilla Brittine’s mother went to the emergency room in 2001 for stomach pains, she was told it was acid reflux and sent home. Seven months later, she died from stomach cancer. In the years that followed, Priscilla watched as stomach cancer...

Cancer, Stomach Gastric Cancer, Breast Cancer
Patient Story

Second Opinion Cancer Diagnosis Saves Life of Chief of Police

In January 2019, after experiencing severe back pain for several months, Darren McLaughlin was at work when he was taken to a nearby emergency room. He was having trouble breathing and his pain was debilitating. Darren, who is chief of police in Merr...

Cancer, Immunotherapy, Immunotherapy, CAR T Cell Therapy
Patient Story

Treatment Far from Home Helps Woman Beat Leukemia

Margie Harper lives near New Orleans, Louisiana, but it was doctors at The University of Kansas Cancer Center in Kansas City who gave her a second chance at life. In 2018, Margie was diagnosed with myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS), a form of blood canc...

Cancer, Blood Marrow Transplant
Patient Story

100th Proton Therapy Patient Extols Her Positive Treatment Experience

Posterior fossa ependymoma. Most people have never heard these words because they describe a rare type of brain tumor, affecting only about 13,000 people in America, most of them children. Stylee Gray certainly never expected to hear them. Yet in J...
Patient Story

Cancer Survivor Brings Awareness and Hope to Her Community

Yolanda Irvin is a woman on a mission. Using her personal experience as a testament to the lifesaving power of a cancer second opinion, Yolanda is determined to bring healthcare education, accessibility and hope to her Kansas City community. Yoland...

Patient Stories, Second Opinion
Patient Story

Nebraska Prostate Cancer Patient Travels to Kansas for Proton Treatment

When facing a cancer diagnosis, people seek the most innovative and effective treatments available. Sometimes that means traveling to distant medical facilities, adding the anxiety of being hundreds or thousands of miles from home to an already stres...

Patient Stories, Proton Therapy
Patient Story

Woman with Metastatic Breast Cancer Fights with Newest Therapy

Dawn Wheeler was an active 50-year-old going about her day when she received a text from her older sister. “She texted because she didn’t think she’d be able to get through a phone call, but she wanted to let me know she’d just been diagnosed with breast cancer

Patient Stories, Breast Cancer, Cancer

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