Lung Cancer Survivor Feels Connected to Hoag
“I was impressed with his expertise with robotic surgery,” she said. “I thought, ‘This is good. I can stay right here and be treated at Hoag.’”
Read Mary's StoryA Diabetes Success Story 75 Years in the Making
“It’s never too late to make a life change.”
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Every Second Counts: Hoag’s rapid response team and cutting-edge technology saves a first-time mom and her baby
Michelle Wood remembers the moment the routine labor and delivery of her baby boy became anything but routine. “As my husband likes to say, he stepped out of the room for 45 seconds, and when he returned, my bed was surrounded.” Michelle’s blood pressure and her baby’s heart rate had suddenly plummeted, a scenario that … Read More
From Coma to Comeback: A mother’s battle with rare epilepsy condition
When Marina Kazin awoke from a six-week coma in Hoag’s ICU, she embarked on a journey of putting the pieces of her life back together. “I felt as if I had turned into a baby again,” she said. “I had to learn everything over again.” A fitness enthusiast and former senior account executive at Google, Marina … Read More
Hoag Empowers New Mom to Advocate for Her Baby–And for Others
Sonia Mann Lehl began advocating for herself and her baby the minute her water broke in the middle of the night, just before Thanksgiving 2022. Although she was only 24 weeks and five days pregnant—and hadn’t experienced her water breaking for the births of her two older sons—she knew what was happening. And she knew … Read More
A Stroke and Heart Condition While Pregnant: How Hoag’s care team saved a patient’s life and her baby
When Sonia revealed to her father over dinner that she was seven weeks pregnant with her second child, he was so overwhelmed with joy that he bought wine for the entire restaurant. The following morning, his excitement quickly turned to terror. “The next call he gets from me was from the ambulance telling him I’m … Read More
When a Hoag ER Nurse Became a Patient: How a cancer diagnosis saved her life and her family
When Amy Rudder first noticed a lump in her right breast, she wasn’t concerned. At just 27, the Hoag ER nurse thought she was too young to have breast cancer. Her perspective shifted dramatically, however, after she met with Hoag OB-GYN Brooke Hargrove, M.D., who ordered an ultrasound. “I made the mistake of looking over … Read More
From Paralysis to Marathoner: How a Hoag spine surgeon got one athlete back in the game
Two decades ago, Beth Sanden suffered her first spinal injury while preparing for the Boston Marathon and the Ironman Triathlon in Hawaii. Falling on a downhill stretch, she landed on her shoulder blades on broken asphalt. The crash rendered her paralyzed and wheelchair bound. “My spinal cord was like an accordion,” she said. “All smushed … Read More
Diagnosed with a rare form of lung cancer, patient finds path to healing at Hoag
In the summer of 2024, Janice Munemitsu, an Orange County native, found herself among a growing number of Asian women with a rare form of lung cancer. “As someone who doesn’t smoke and has been healthy all my life, it was a shock,” she said. What began as a sudden onset of a rare eye … Read More
From Misdiagnosis to Breakthrough: One Woman’s Journey to Endometriosis Treatment
As a teenager embarking on her freshman year of high school, Amanda Stratton began experiencing severe and mysterious abdominal pain. “Doctors chalked my symptoms up to irritable bowel syndrome, and that was all they could really offer me as a diagnosis,” she said. Months turned into years, and despite following prescribed protocols from specialists and … Read More
Higher Calling: How Hoag’s MS Program helped one patient gain control of her diagnosis and her future
In 2019, Brittany Quiroz found herself among the nearly one million people living with Multiple Sclerosis (MS) in the United States. She recalled experiencing early warning signs of the disease while building her music career ten years prior. “Because I was so incredibly busy touring and performing, I assumed my body was just really tired,” … Read More
From Diagnosis to Cancer-Free in 14 days: How Hoag’s highly specialized interventional digestive care experts treated aggressive esophageal cancer and won
Rick Letterman’s passion for golf spans decades. Now 77, he’s been perfecting his swing since high school, when he worked as a caddy at a local country club in Kentucky. “Golf is a very self-challenging game,” he said. “You align with your target in the distance, and you take your shot. When I received the … Read More