News

This week during Breast Cancer Awareness Month, we’re talking about metastatic breast cancer and Saint Luke’s Koontz Center—the region’s only center dedicated and designed specifically for these patients.

The Koontz Center has cared for hundreds of patients with Stage 4 metastatic breast cancer since its inception in 2016.

More than 100,000 people are on the wait list for a life-saving transplant—and more than 85% of those can be helped by a living donor.

Mindy, a teacher in Blue Springs, has a family history of breast cancer, so it wasn’t a surprise when her doctor recommended she start annual mammograms at the age of 35.

When Maribeth Kammert first learned she had cancer in 2015, her world came to a stop. It was early stage breast cancer. “I was at Beauty Brands with my mom when I got the call. I went into the bathroom because I didn’t know how I would react. I didn’t cry,” said Maribeth. “I just had this instinct that I was going to take care of it, and God was going to take care of me. And if the outcome wasn’t what I wanted, I’d be okay with that.”

Sixteen-year-old Cheri Rich has sewn more than 200 drain bags for Saint Luke's mastectomy patients as a way to give back to other families who are fighting the battle against cancer.

Lynn vividly remembers how she felt when she found out she had stage 2 breast cancer at age 44, shortly after cancer claimed her sister’s life.

Three days a week, three hours a day, for 12 years—Jamont Clayton spent roughly 5,616 hours of his life attached to a kidney dialysis machine.

Emery Stone was in total kidney failure. And that’s when everything changed. Not only for Emery, but for the entire Stone family. 

Reconnecting with a former high school classmate turned out to be a saving grace in Lori’s life.