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.…
Her granddaughter was the first to notice something was off. When Courtney called from her home in Carbondale, her grandmother, 84-year-old Springfield resident Kathryn Kramer, couldn’t finish sentences. She didn’t remember if she’d eaten, and she was sleeping throughout…
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…
After a long day of work last March, Virginia native Barbara Arenz decided to relax by watching one of her favorite shows—Grey’s Anatomy. It showed a patient undergoing a unique treatment, where a special drug was given to make the…
Brianne Buckmaster didn’t know what was happening to her when she was rushed to Memorial Medical Center in the early morning hours of a January winter. She knew something was wrong when she tried to get out of bed and…
Ruthetta Getchel and her husband, Jack, were a day away from embarking on a trip to Minnesota in July 2014 when Ruthetta awoke in the middle of the night experiencing severe back pain and profuse sweating. Jack quickly drove Ruthetta…
Thereasa Abrams, PhD, LCSW, understands what many of the burn patients in Memorial Medical Center’s Regional Burn Center are experiencing. When she was 6 years old, the research assistant professor with Southern Illinois University School of Medicine’s Institute of Plastic…
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…
Maybe your sweetheart sets your heart a’fluttering or maybe those flutters indicate a potential health issue. Actually, it’s not just folks with a heart condition who can experience arrhythmia, which is a problem with the rate or rhythm of the…
You’ve made it! Nine long months, and now it’s almost time for your baby to make his or her debut. The excitement that comes with being a new parent shouldn’t be dulled by nerves about what to expect when you…