Cancer Patient Stories

Patient Stories about cancer

October 14, 2019

Leslie Harrell, D.O., Joins UAMS as Radiation Oncologist

Linda Haymes

Leslie Harrell, D.O.

LITTLE ROCK — Radiation oncologist Leslie Harrell, D.O., has joined the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) and sees patients at the UAMS Radiation Oncology Center. She also serves as a professor in UAMS College of Medicine Department of Radiation Oncology. Harrell, who previously served as a radiation oncologist in Oklahoma City, specializes in…


October 1, 2019

Retired Police Officer Finds ‘Top-Notch’ Breast Cancer Treatment at UAMS

Susan Van Dusen

Patty Allen and Crystal Smith

Patty Allen is the first to admit it: Mammograms make her nervous. With no history of breast cancer in her family, she never imagined the test would come back positive. But the experience always left her rattled nonetheless.


September 23, 2019

Little Rock Volunteer Uses Love of Knitting to Give to UAMS Cancer Patients

Linda Haymes

“I knew there was a need so I began by making 50 or more hats a year,” said Ferren, 54, a former elementary school teacher who is legally blind.

Carolaina Ferren uses her knitting needles, crochet hooks, and bundles of yarn to share her empathy with those who are battling cancer. “I knew there was a need so I began by making 50 or more hats a year,” said Ferren, 54, a former elementary school teacher who is legally blind. “A lot of knitting…


September 10, 2019

Testicular Cancer Patient Advises Others to Seek Treatment at First Sign of Change

Katrina Dupins

Bradley Patty

Bradley Patty recently finished his last cycle of chemotherapy treatment for testicular cancer at UAMS. His prognosis is good. He and his wife, Marlenis Patty, are looking forward to the birth of their sixth child. Patty noticed a lump about a year ago, but he didn’t immediately go get it checked out. Soon after he…


August 22, 2019

Woman Resumes Humanitarian Trips to China after Myeloma Treatment

Linda Haymes

Myeloma patient Cindy Sites of Springfield, Missouri, and her husband, Doug, credit her physicians at UAMS with extending her life and allowing her to see her first grandchild.

Cindy Sites loves sharing the gift of music with others. Whenever she visits the Myeloma Center in the UAMS Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute, she likes playing the Steinway grand piano in the lobby. “I usually play for an hour or so in between my tests or while waiting for my appointments,” Sites, 57, said….


July 1, 2019

Cross-Country Cyclists Stop by UAMS Cancer Institute to Promote Research and Fundraising

Linda Haymes

Myeloma patient Melissa Durham of Strawberry, Arkansas, and her husband Eddie visited with nearly 30 students from The University of Texas at Austin in Texas who recently visted the UAMS Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute. The students are part of a larger group cycling 4,000 miles from Austin to Anchorage, Alaska, in support of cancer treatment and research.

Nearly 30 students from The University of Texas at Austin in Texas, riding bikes from Austin to Anchorage, Alaska, were greeted by cheers recently when they stopped by the UAMS Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute. The students, part of the 2019 Texas 4000 for Cancer, the longest annual charity bike ride in the world, began…


June 10, 2019

Eight-Year Survivor of Two Deadly Cancers Thanks ‘Guardian Angel’

ChaseYavondaC

Doctor next to patient, who is in hospital bed

The night before his cancer surgery in April 2011, Michael McGhee asked his church family to pray for him. “I laid my cigarettes on the altar and didn’t pick them up again,” McGhee said. Eight years later, McGhee is 72 and has survived not one, but two, cancers that are often deadly: esophageal cancer and…


June 4, 2019

Myeloma Patient in Remission, Grateful for Additional Time

Linda Haymes

Linda Reins of Tulsa, Oklahoma, and her husband Robert recently learned she is in complete remission. "Dr van Rhee has given me time and hope," she said.

Linda Reins, 73, of Tulsa, Oklahoma, is no stranger to cancer. In 1985, when she was 40, her local gynecologist’s office floored her with the first diagnosis. “They told me, ‘You’re pregnant and oh, you also have cervical cancer,’ said Reins, who had two teenaged sons at the time. “The next day, my husband at…


May 22, 2019

Commentary by UAMS’ van Rhee Featured in Blood Journal

Linda Haymes

“Significant progress has been made in recent years in the field of multicentric Castleman disease,” Frits van Rhee wrote in a recent commentary in Blood, a publication by the American Society of Hematology, noting several advancements.

Frits van Rhee, clinical director of the UAMS Myeloma Center, weighed in on a new combination therapy for treating newly diagnosed Castleman disease patients in the April 18 issue of Blood, a publication by the American Society of Hematology. In the commentary, “Storming the Castle with TCP,” van Rhee and coauthor Katie Stone, then-director of…


April 24, 2019

Colorectal Cancer Patient Says UAMS Saved Her Life

Katrina Dupins

Lowetta Bishop says she's glad she chose UAMS for her cancer treatments.

When a doctor told Lowetta Bishop she had colorectal cancer, she told him he was wrong. “I’d gone to my family doctor for a regular visit, I told him I’d experienced bleeding, but not often. We both agreed it was probably hemorrhoids,” Bishop said. “We scheduled a colonoscopy and the doctor there told me it…



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