Cancer, News, Patient stories - Norton Healthcare

Cancer messed with the wrong person

Dec. 6, 2011, is the day Tina Griffith’s world turned upside down. At just 38 years old, she was told she had breast cancer. “I got the call at work, and it was like I was punched in the gut,” Griffith said. “Everything became a blur, and I couldn’t hear anything the nurse was telling…

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Cancer, News, Patient stories - Norton Healthcare

My daily dose of joy

On Sept. 15, Give Local Louisville day, we shared 24 Hours of Courage on Facebook — a day highlighting the stories of courageous mothers, sons, husbands and friends who have fought or are currently fighting one of the most tragic diseases of our time — cancer. We’re now turning these stories of courage into tales…

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Cancer, News, Patient stories - Norton Healthcare

Open your eyes

Olympic gold medalist Scott Hamilton said the only disability in life is a bad attitude. If you think 19-year-old Jake Olson has a disability because he is blind, then you have the wrong attitude. Olson lost his sight to cancer as a child. But that hasn’t stopped him from fulfilling his dream of playing college…

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Heart, News, Patient stories - Norton Healthcare

Stopping a stroke meant taking her sight

If you had to choose between having a stroke or losing your eyesight, which would you pick? It was not quite that black and white for Arlene Hampton, but close, when she was prescribed a daily pill to avoid having a stroke — a pill that caused her to permanently lose vision in her right…

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Cancer, News, Patient stories - Norton Healthcare

I’ve seen cancer firsthand

My story starts five years ago. I needed to lose some weight and get in shape. I went to Clarksville Schwinn and bought my first road bike. On one of my trips there, I noticed a flier advertising the Bike to Beat Cancer. The name of the ride quickly had my attention. I asked some…

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News, Patient stories - Norton Healthcare

Addie’s Journey: Fighting cancer with a smile

This story was originally published on April 2, 2015 and has been updated. It had been in high school, over 10 years ago, when I had last seen Angela Roberts. It wasn’t under the greatest circumstances that we reconnected, but she was still the same as I had remembered — a smile from ear to…

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Cancer, News, Patient stories - Norton Healthcare

Cancer took our little brother

Cancer should only occur in old people — old people we don’t know. It was awful, as little kids, when our grandmom died of lung cancer. That was our frame of reference for the injustice of this disease until Feb. 15, 2016, when our little brother, Owen, died of cancer. He was 16. Owen was…

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News, Obstetrics, Patient stories - Norton Healthcare

A partner’s perspective

Brittany and I have been through a great deal to get to this point in our pregnancy journey. I can tell you that throughout your own pregnancy, not everyone will agree with you and your partner 100 percent of the time. But the following points are some advice I feel is important to pass along…

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News, Patient stories - Norton Healthcare

Looking at cancer from the rearview mirror

This story was originally published in 2013 and has been updated. Having tiny electrodes placed all over our newborn’s scalp to test his hearing was not the way we envisioned our baby beginning his third week of life. But after failing his newborn hearing screening, Cole was sent to the children’s hospital to get an…

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Bike to Beat Cancer, News, Patient stories - Norton Healthcare

‘I can, and I will’

Summer Blizzard has always been an active person but decided she was ready for a new challenge. A couple of years ago, she learned about the Bike to Beat Cancer through her husband, Chris Coslow, who races road bikes. It was a natural fit for her new challenge, as the cause has a place near…

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News, Patient stories - Norton Healthcare, Teens

The internet stole my life

I decided to give up the internet. No more surfing websites, chatting on social media, playing video games or watching Netflix. When I turned my smartphone and two tablets over to my parents, it felt like a nightmare and I thought I would have serious withdrawal issues. So, why did I do it? I realized…

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News, Patient stories - Norton Healthcare

Ask; don’t stare

Fifteen-month-old Kinsley Pruitt was born prematurely with major health issues. For the most part, she appears to be like most other toddlers — learning to walk and explore the world around her — except she has a G-tube. This is a tube that comes out of her abdomen and allows her to be fed directly…

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