Cancer Patient Stories
September 8, 2023
‘Everything Got Better,’ after Coming to UAMS, says Leukemia Lymphoma Patient
By the time Thomas Wages arrived at UAMS on February 15, 2022, he had been through one cancer diagnosis and 13 types of intensive chemotherapy. He was 70. The active father of four was diagnosed with Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL) in 2008, devastating news that came during one of the happiest times of his life….
April 7, 2023
“I Have More Compassion for Patients,” Says UAMS Nurse and Colon Cancer Survivor
John Reed, RN, is on the front lines of cancer. As a nurse in the UAMS Endoscopy Lab, he spends about 50 weeks a year helping patients through colon cancer screening procedures, mainly colonoscopies. But after a routine doctor’s appointment in 2020, Reed became the patient. “I felt fine, but my iron levels were really…
March 24, 2023
From Alaska to Arkansas: A Cancer Survivor’s Journey
For throat cancer survivor Shalonda Michelle, there are exactly 3,815 miles between being sick and being healthy. It’s the distance between Fairbanks, Alaska, where her medical journey began, to the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute, where she finally found healing. Michelle’s harrowing experience began in 2010. She was…
February 3, 2023
104 and Cancer Free
UAMS patient treated by James Suen, M.D., is one of the oldest living cancer survivors in Arkansas A favorite pillow in Maddie Upton’s Camden, Arkansas, home reads, ‘I’m so far up the hill, I’ve started up the next one.’ At 104, there is no old age joke she hasn’t heard, and she shows no…
November 28, 2022
UAMS Lung Cancer Survivor Beats the Odds
About 25-30% of patients worldwide with Stage IV non-small cell lung cancer die in less than three months. But with talented doctors, advances in treatment and a bit of luck, some patients beat the odds. John Pertuis, 62, is a member of this rarified group of lung cancer “long” survivors. With help from the UAMS…
April 8, 2022
Daniel’s Story: From UAMS Lymphoma Patient to Be a Part of the Cure Walk Coordinator
Imagine you’re 23 and just landed your first promotion at your dream job. All is right with the world. Now imagine being diagnosed with lymphoma at the same time. For UAMS special events coordinator, Daniel Frazier, cancer was not part of the plan. “Whatever plan I thought I had, a cancer diagnosis was nowhere on…
March 4, 2022
Monticello Doctor Credits UAMS Bone Marrow Transplant for Getting Him Back to Medicine and Life
Jay Connelley, M.D., a family physician in Monticello, Arkansas, was so used to powering through the fatigue that comes with keeping doctors’ hours that it never occurred to him he might be tired for another reason. It wasn’t until he began experiencing frequent dizziness that he thought there might be more to it. “I was…
January 13, 2022
First Myeloma Center Patient Receives Revolutionary New Therapy, Responds Well
Dave Puente of Elk Grove, California, became the first myeloma patient in Arkansas to receive the new chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell immunotherapy at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) Myeloma Center, the only medical facility in Arkansas currently offering the cutting-edge treatment.
December 29, 2021
Lung Biopsy Robot at UAMS Detects Early-stage Cancer in Little Rock Woman
A Little Rock woman can now breathe a little easier thanks to new technology at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS). Doctors at UAMS recently activated the first lung biopsy robot in Arkansas. The robot allows doctors to discover and biopsy previously undetectable cancerous nodules in the far reaches of the lungs. Cynthia…
October 15, 2021
Two Sisters Battle Breast Cancer at UAMS
Like many sisters, April Biggs and Amber Vanaman have shared a lot as siblings. Just one year apart, they shared a bedroom and clothes growing up in Paragould, Arkansas, and have some of same facial features — definitely the same smile. But they never expected to share a life-threatening disease. Biggs was diagnosed with Stage…
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