NorthShore’s quarterly Connections magazine shares stories of real people in our community who have benefited from the superior clinical care, exceptional patient experiences and innovative research at NorthShore. Did you know that charitable donations to NorthShore help power all of this, while also assisting our underserved neighbors who can’t afford healthcare?

Learn here about the how philanthropy has impacted care for the patients you read about in Connections.

Spring 2019

Randy Gladstone beat his Stage IV throat cancer and found his voice again thanks to NorthShore’s expert head and neck cancer care. Grateful patients of Head and Neck Cancer Surgeon Mihir Bhayani, MD, help advance research that’s improving care for patients like Randy through philanthropic gifts. Thanks to these generous donors, Dr. Bhayani and his team have built a biorepository to help study the biological behavior of individual cancers, better predict prognoses, guide therapy and monitor response to treatment. Another group of grateful patients, HeadStrong Voices for Healing, has also rallied to raise additional funds for this important research.

 

 

 

Julia Hollenbeck, a 10-year-old from Evanston, faced her orthopaedic surgery with minimal anxiety thanks to a new virtual reality (VR) technology available at NorthShore. The Child’s Play Charity, Starlight Children’s Foundation and Sigma Sigma Sigma Foundation provided funding to purchase VR headsets, giving NorthShore’s Child Life Specialists a powerful tool to ease patients’ fears. Today, our young patients can choose from more than 25 immersive experiences, including playing games, hang gliding and walking through London.

 

 

 

Rebecca Marsalli has taken control of her breast cancer risk now that genetic testing at NorthShore’s Mark R. Neaman Center for Personalized Medicine identified her BRCA1 gene mutation. As a young mom, she knows how important her health is to her son’s future, so she’s working with her primary care physician to implement a regular schedule of breast exams, MRIs and mammograms to closely monitor her breast health. Philanthropic gifts from dozens of generous donors is driving availability of genetic testing for patients like Rebecca by providing crucial funding for the new DNA-10K program currently offering 10,000 eligible patients free comprehensive genetic testing with their annual physical.