Stories of Hope

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Thank you to the many City of Hope supporters who shared their personal experiences with us and gave us permission to share with others. Here is a small sample of the incredible and inspirational stories we received.

Kellene (Kelly) Adachi
City of Hope and your wonderful Dr. Robert Morgan saved my life when I was diagnosed with Stage 3 breast cancer at the age of 46. I will be forever grateful for the amazing and wonderful care I received during treatment and still receive to this day for follow-up and ...

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Nancy Berger
After donating for many years, I received an invitation for a lunch at City of Hope. The representative I spoke to on the phone explained about the tour and what we’d see. Some time ago, my brother and I had purchased a Memorial Gold Brick with my parents’ names and ...

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Jacqueline Chernack
Breast cancer brought me to City of Hope. Caring, capable staff and wonderful doctors with whom I’ve been fully blessed as MY team of doctors keep me there. I cannot really give the adequate thanks and praise that my wonderful doctors deserve. They’ve been lifesavers, counselors, friends. I praise God ...

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Judith and Richard Corona
I was recently thinking about writing City of Hope about information I wanted to find out about my mother when your letter arrived asking for “My City of Hope Story.” This is my story — not the full one since it has been so long, but sometimes memories make it ...

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Thomas Desmond
I had been a patient at City of Hope for two years when I was diagnosed with testicular cancer by Dr. Timothy Wilson during a prostate checkup. In the test done because of this cancer, they also discovered a Stage IV lung cancer. The testicular cancer was operated on by ...

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James Engelman
As a physician, I had a unique insight into what my future entailed once I decided to embark on a hematopoietic stem cell transplant. I looked at several West Coast transplant centers and decided on City of Hope. From my initial visit to City of Hope, driving by the beautiful ...

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Peggy and Richard Forrester
Fortunately, we have not had any personal experiences, but have had a friend’s husband that was able to enjoy his family, see his daughter get married and meet his granddaughters from his son's marriage — all thanks to City of Hope. It is our hope that City of Hope will ...

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Dena R. and Mark A. Gerardi
I have been a patient in ongoing treatment at City of Hope for eight years. During that time, I have made many dear friends (many of them will be lifelong) in the form of doctors, nurse practitioners, nurses, aides and other staff, as well as other patients (several of whom ...

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Toni Gonzales
I’ll start my story in October 1971. I got married October 23, 1971; six days later my mom died from ovarian cancer. Fast forward to September 1983, when ABC-TV news did a week segment on breast cancer. I really didn’t pay much attention until the last night, when they showed ...

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Vicky Graham
From the first moment I came in contact with City of Hope, I have been impressed. Within one day, I was contacted for an appointment and two days later, I was at my first appointment. I met Dr. Reckamp, who initially did not believe my nodule was cancer, but she ...

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Mark, Sarah and Sallee Huff
How do you thank so many City of Hope doctors who gave my son the DESIRE and TOOLS to fight a life-threatening disease? My son had hiked Mount Whitney just two months before being diagnosed with a spinal tumor. He was having trouble walking and was very scared when the ...

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Patricia Karasik
I am a cancer survivor. I had Stage 3 ovarian cancer from 2009 until March 17. My surgeon, Dr. Ernest Han, saved my life; he is a miracle worker. I am now past five years cancer free and City of Hope is totally responsible. There is no other facility as ...

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Aundrea H. Katz
For years, I always gave a few dollars to the people standing in front of the market raising funds for City of Hope, not knowing where or how the money was distributed. But now, I have just completed a 19-day stay at City of Hope for a stem cell transplant. ...

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Dolores LaRue
The experience that has influenced me the most in my support of City of Hope was my first visit there after I had been told by a local cancer doctor that I should literally go home and get my affairs in order. The year was 2004 and I had been ...

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Margaret Landry
As a health professional, I have been aware of City of Hope for over 40 years and often referred patients for treatment. Last year, I was diagnosed with small B-cell lymphoma and chose to go to City of Hope for care. Dr. Nitya Nathwani, my hematologist/oncologist, has been with me ...

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Jan Lucio-Doane
We were blessed as a family for City of Hope to take on my son’s case of colon cancer. City of Hope did and tried everything within their power to heal and cure him, but unfortunately, nothing worked. Everyone at City of Hope was kind and wonderful and very attentive ...

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Paul Martinez
I started donating blood to City of Hope in 1980 and have collected the shirts they gave to people that donated blood. My mother-in-law was treated at City of Hope, as well as one of my aunts, and both passed away from cancer. I used to come on tours from ...

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Laura Morgon
When I was 29 years old in 1989, I was diagnosed with thyroid cancer. I was uninsured, had three small children (my youngest was nine months old) and terrified. I was treated at City of Hope and thank God am cancer-free almost 25 years later. I went on to become ...

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Michelle Pardes
Author’s note from her book “Still Breathing… From Cancer to Living… A Comprehensive and Personal Guide,” dedicated to all at City of Hope with heartfelt gratitude. In the fall of 2003, I was diagnosed with blood cancer. Now, I am a Graduate of The City of Hope Bone Marrow Transplant ...

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Valerie Pollard
Dr. Stephen Forman definitely most influenced my experience at City of Hope. His humor, caring and expertise in general as well as specific expertise in things such as a bone marrow biopsy (done in four minutes!) made a huge difference. The nurses were a pleasure, especially after transferring from a ...

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Judy and Duane Preimsberger
Judy was the first City of Hope Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department chapter president and she did a super job of interacting with the people she worked with from City of Hope; they, too, delivered atta-boys and atta-girls to our chapter members for their wholehearted assistance. Things were going well ...

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Charna Ravich
In the late 1940s, a neighbor was being treated at City of Hope for TB. In honor of the institution, the neighbor’s wife and my father, Dr. Milton Dickter, founded the first City of Hope chapter in the San Fernando Valley. My entire family became active fundraisers and it passed ...

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Barbara Richter
Many years ago, one of my dearest friends, Yvonne, was diagnosed with leukemia. Yvonne was brought to City of Hope and they started treatment immediately. Fortunately, her older brother was a bone marrow match for her so she was able to get a transplant. Her treatment was excellent and this ...

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Grace Rickabus
We were living in Oregon when I was diagnosed with colon cancer. My grown son and daughters were all working in the furniture industry and were familiar with City of Hope and what a wonderful hospital and research lab it was. We travelled over 1,000 miles to reach City of ...

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Marvin Ridgely
I met Dr. Steve Forman a few months before my stem cell transplant on August 14, 2008. I could tell immediately that I was in the best hands. He walked me through all of the testing and treatment before checking me into the hospital. The treatment went as predicted and ...

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James Rosenthal
About 18 months ago, at 5 p.m. on a Friday night, I was told I had cancer; multiple myeloma to be more specific. I was leaving on a fishing trip to Montana at 5 a.m. the next morning. I was dumbfounded, as I never expected this diagnosis. I knew there ...

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Michael Sandler
In May of 1992, my mother passed away from complications of an extremely virulent non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Though she had no chance of survival, at least she had the privilege of working through her situation with City of Hope — which, through their involvement with truly frightening conditions like cancer, etc., ...

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Susan Shapiro
My first contact with City of Hope was in the early 1960s when I was in my 20s. A friend of my husband had tuberculosis and lived at City of Hope for about six months. We visited him at the Duarte campus and were impressed at the care he received. ...

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Diana Shore
Dr. Lucille Leong met me in 1997 when I was hysterical and distrustful of a stem cell transplant. Dr. Leong not only instilled confidence but honored my idiosyncrasies and special needs. I felt so lucky to be able to stay in the cottage during my entire stay at City of ...

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Sonja Telias
Dr. Stephen Forman was my savior. His kindness, understanding, knowledge and bedside manner is tremendous. I always felt that I was getting the best care and that all would wind up well. I pray that all patients that come to City of Hope will get the results I got. It ...

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Judith Tomkins
Every experience I have had at City of Hope has been very pleasant. Thank you to people like Jeannie Lawrence. It’s a joy coming in and seeing her smiling face. I’m proud to say I am a patient of Dr. Robert Morgan. He is the first doctor I saw when ...

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Victoria A. Trenkle
My local doctor told me he could no longer help me, saying he had done all he could do. He suggested I go to a teaching hospital. But I chose City of Hope and I met Dr. Nakamura. I liked everything I saw and everyone I met. However, my insurance ...

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Leon Watkins
As a recovering leukemia (AML) patient, I first came to City of Hope in early 2007 after two-and-a-half years of remission from my initial diagnosis and treatment at Kaiser. With the return of the leukemia, I was in need of a bone marrow transplant and that was to be done at City of Hope. ...

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Anonymous
I first became aware of City of Hope when my mother was a volunteer for the organization in the 1950s and for many years thereafter. I had only a vague idea of its mission. When my cousin’s wife was afflicted with breast cancer and she underwent treatment at City of ...

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