#hope-after-diagnosis

#hope-after-diagnosis

"I've been coughing for 29 years now it started off light but in 2022 I was listed for a transplant because of how severe my condition had become," said Jaswinder Dev, who is dependent on supplemental oxygen.

Having the gene treatment has been life-changing, it's like someone waved a magic wand and restored her sight in the dark. She's thriving and you wouldn't know she had the condition just by looking at her.

One in every 17 people has a rare disease - I'm one of those people. I have mucopolysaccharidosis type I. It's more commonly known as 'Hurler syndrome', but even when I use that term, no one I meet has ever heard of it.

I have been so well looked after that I wanted to find some way to not only give something back, but also to raise the profile of this awful condition.

The revamped outpatient space folds in more infusion stations, extra exam rooms and added specialty clinics, which officials and neighborhood advocates hope will shrink travel times and long waits for patients across southern Brooklyn. The center now stretches South Brooklyn Health's outpatient cancer footprint with additional infusion bays, more exam rooms and extra clinical staff.

New findings on cancer survival rates offer hope for the more than 2 million Americans diagnosed each year. Seven out of 10 Americans diagnosed with cancer now survive five years or more, according to the American Cancer Society, a 7 percent increase since the mid-1990s, when the rate stood at 63 percent. The survival rate data - from patients diagnosed with cancer between 2015 and 2021 - showed, significantly, that those with high-mortality cancers and advanced diagnoses had the largest gains.

A report last year found unnecessary surgeries were carried out, cancers were missed and poor standards of care were delivered at the University Hospital of North Durham and Darlington Memorial Hospital. CDDTF said it wanted to support the patients it had let down, including by offering access to psychological support, and to ensure they knew how to make a claim or raise concerns with police.

The surgery was long and grueling - almost 12 hours - and my recovery was tough. I couldn't lift my baby for weeks. My husband served as a caregiver for both me and our son, while my mom and sisters rotated shifts to help. I hated feeling like a visitor in my own life, but slowly my strength began to return. It took me about a year to fully recover and start to feel like myself again.