Special Treatment (Horizon Air Magazine, September 2009)

Northwest Hospitals Offer Innovative Care

Jazmin Rene Smith, 14, had been suffering from a mystery illness involving episodes of severe stomach pain since she was an infant. “Her pediatrician thought she was lactose intolerant or had severe food allergies,” recalls Kanika Mills-Lewis, Jazmin’s mother. “But even with diet restrictions, two or three times every year she’d be in so much pain she couldn’t stand up straight or hold down food for days. You hate to see your child suffering like that and know there’s nothing you can do.”

     In September 2008, Jazmin had an episode that lasted for two weeks and became so severe that it landed her in Seattle Children’s Hospital (SCH). A CT scan and blood work revealed severe pancreatitis: the main pancreatic duct was dilated five times the normal size, preventing her pancreas from draining properly...Contact me for entire article 

Weight Loss Winners (Woman’s Day, June 2009)

We all know that there’s no real secret to losing weight: eat less and exercise more. But, how? These women all chose different strategies to lose a phenomenal amount of weight, but  they have a few things in common: They changed their eating habits and started walking. Slowly but surely, the weight came off. Here are the winning strategies these women used to became big losers...Contact me for entire article

Special Delivery (Working Mother, January 2008)

Parenting a Special-needs Child Brings Unique Challenges

Our 100 Best firms are stepping up to help with everything from flexible work schedules and support groups to expanded health benefits and educational resources.

     As a baby, Craig Ronowski was a healthy bundle of energy, and it was all his mom, Lori Key, a marketing and expense specialist at First Horizon National Corporation in Memphis, could do to keep up with him. But a few days before his first birthday, Craig began to vomit repeatedly, and his temperature spiked to 104 degrees. Frantic with worry, Lori rushed him to the hospital. That's when she got the news that would change their lives forever...Read entire article

Climb Every Mountain (Heart Insights, August 2008)

Alison Levine, 42, is no stranger to taking on steep challenges in her life. In the last 10 years, she traveled to seven continents to scale the world's highest peaks and skied across the Arctic Circle to the North Pole.

She has also made history: Last January, she became the first American to ski across a remote 600-mile Antarctic route to the South Pole, and in 2002, she led the first American Women's Everest Expedition.

     But before accomplishing any of these feats of derring-do, Alison had to vercome a life-threatening congenital heart condition that went undiagnosed for the first 17 years of her life...Read entire article

I didn’t Recognize Myself (Woman’s Day, September 2008)

As told to Jennifer Haupt

One day back in 1998, I looked in the mirror and didn’t recognize myself. I was skinnier than I’d ever been. My lips were very thin, and the skin on my hands, arms, neck and face was tight and drawn. It felt like every part of my body was shrinking—except my hands, which were so swollen I couldn’t wear any of my rings. They were also very sensitive to the cold and turned blue in air conditioning...Read entire article

Unborn Triplets Saved Mom’s Life (Reader’s Digest, November 2007)

The birthday party, which took place in the hospital cafeteria, seemed like nothing out of the ordinary, with colorful balloons, streamers and a big vanilla-iced cake with pink and blue letters that announced “Happy First Birthday!” But it was a miracle that this celebration for the Errante triplets, born on August 19, 2005, happened at all...Read entire article