Read inspiring stories of strength, perseverance, and hope from those we’ve had the privilege of caring for at the Helen G. Nassif Community Cancer Center.
The Family Care Program is a program of the Nassif Community Cancer Center and is funded by a grant from Aiming for a Cure Foundation. Ellie Droesch of Cedar Rapids was diagnosed with breast cancer in March 2023 at the
Renee Bryant, of Cedar Rapids, has always been good about receiving her annual screening mammogram to check for breast cancer. In late 2024, when it was time for her yearly appointment at UnityPoint Health – St. Luke’s Breast and Bone
In early January 2025, Grinnell resident Marcia Puls felt something odd in her breast and called her family doctor. After an examination, her provider referred her for a mammogram at UnityPoint Health – Grinnell Regional Medical Center. The mammogram came
Vanessa Vega of Cedar Rapids is a former NCAA Division I basketball player, a current high school coach and an avid runner. She’s always been a healthy and active person, so when the then-40-year-old Vega went in for her first
Life changes when a patient receives a cancer diagnosis and becomes a survivor. During active treatment, there are appointments, lab tests, surgery, chemo, radiation and more. When a patient completes treatment, a new set of challenges arise as a patient
You could say Sara Veerhusen started going to the Helen G. Nassif Community Cancer Center before it existed. “After I was diagnosed with cancer in 2002, I took advantage of UnityPoint Health – St. Luke’s exercise services for cancer patients,”
Perry Lawrence, 66, of Cedar Rapids, had a long history of smoking. He started after graduating high school in 1976 and kept up the habit for nearly five decades, until kicking it after receiving a lung cancer diagnosis in Spring
Crystal Prull of Marion, a Certified Medical Assistant, was used to caring for others, but in December of 2023, she faced her own health challenge. After feeling a lump in her breast, Prull went in for a mammogram, ultrasound and
Ed Fisher, 68, has been a semi-truck driver for 50 years. He spends his days on the road, but is back home with his family each night in Mechanicsville. His family and friends, and a second family he would soon
Early last year, Jennifer Lundin of Atkins, was coming off two years of nursing her son and kept getting mastitis, which is an inflammation of breast tissue that sometimes causes an infection. It’s common in breastfeeding women, and Lundin’s doctor
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