STORIES

Making a Difference

M. SMITH

At age 30, she had just been very busy and forgot to have her yearly pap smears. The new schedule of every 3 years got her off her yearly routine. She finally remembered to call her doctor, who informed her, she was 2 years overdue. The pap showed cervical cancer, and she had to have a hysterectomy. Now she uses HealthPal to track a yearly Gyn follow-up exam as well as her routine prevention tasks. Because of the cancer scare, she decided to get a better family history and it turns out there was a very strong history of breast cancer at an early age. A Genetecist evaluated this and did testing for BRCA, Ms Smith was positive. Now she gets a mammogram AND an MRI of her breasts yearly.

C. LUPINE

As an extremely successful businessman, Mr. Lupine rarely had personal time and didn't really pay attention to his health. He would tell his doctor had mentioned colon screening, but he never got a call to schedule, time went by. After he turned 60, his father was diagnosed with metastatic colon cancer and passed away. This tragedy caused him to get his screening done. He had advanced colon polyps and had to have part of his colon removed, but luckily the cancer had not spread. Now he uses the app to stay organized at his yearly physical and it gives him a great sense of control to know what is due when.

E. DURANT

Mr. Durant worked two jobs to save for his son's college tuition. He saw his doctor very regularly for small issues that would come up and she would discuss smoking cessation with him. One day he developed bad shoulder pain out of the blue. A steroid shot didn't help much, so he eventually went to the ER. A chest x-ray showed a large nodule but the ER doctor didn't tell him. When he finally saw his primary again, she ordered a lung CT which showed metastatic lung cancer. A low dose lung CT, the new lung cancer screening, would have caught this early. Mr. Durant passed away within a year.