Mike Dulakis was progressing through his normal workout Feb. 3 at Taylorville’s Lock Up Gym, lifting weights from a seated position, when everything changed. The 39-year-old guard for the Taylorville Correctional Facility was “training to failure,” a common weight-lifting strategy.…
For the first time in nearly 13 years, Tandra Perkins of Urbana woke up and didn’t have to think about dialysis. It had been her routine three times a week, four hours at a time. On June 10, the 44-year-old…
Friends come and go. A true friend, however, is invaluable. They stick up for you, never judge and are with you in good times and bad. And when times get really bad, it helps when that true friend is the…
The possibility that she might be having a heart attack only briefly crossed Becky Griffith’s mind. She was, after all, only 40 years old. Last November, the mother of two began to feel severely fatigued and short of breath. While…
Meet Ann, a client of the Logan-Mason Rehabilitation Center, a program of the Mental Health Centers of Central Illinois. She is inspiring others to take important steps to improve their health. Every week, Ann leads Health Matters™, which is a…
For Ricky Rogers, things never came easily. He had a hard time holding a job, he wasn’t able to focus on everyday tasks, and then there were the voices he heard. But he didn’t know what was wrong. He just…
“Overwhelming” is how Erma Tester, 80, describes the grief she experienced when Everett, her husband of 63 years, passed away in the fall of 2012. She cried for seven months straight and couldn’t sleep at night. The anxiety and depression…
For many people who struggle with obesity, dieting and exercise alone are not enough to lose and maintain substantial weight loss to improve their health. For some, bariatric surgery, in addition to lifestyle changes, may be the holistic approach to…
For years, procrastination and fear of surgery kept area farmer Mike Conrady, 48, from considering surgery for his hips. Finally, at age 45, when nothing eased the pain and he couldn’t sleep at night, he met with Dr. Tomasz Borowiecki,…
For many people who struggle with obesity, dieting and exercise alone are not enough to lose and maintain substantial weight loss to improve their improve their health. For some, bariatric surgery, in addition to lifestyle changes, may be the holistic approach…