News

A man from Columbia, Missouri, got a new heart and a second chance at life, marking the 1,000th heart transplant at Saint Luke's Mid America Heart Institute.

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.

Saint Luke’s program becomes the 23rd institution in the U.S. to perform 1,000 heart transplants.

Matt Dickhut jokes he’s never won the Powerball, despite decades of trying his hand. But he did win the lottery. Instead of a big check, his winnings came in the form of a new liver.

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

“Physicians see all kinds of inequities in medical care and it’s heartbreaking. But we can take care of some of those things." —John Helzberg, MD

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.”

When Henry Myers needed a heart transplant, he trusted the team at Saint Luke's Mid America Heart Institute. While waiting for a new heart, one goal, in particular, made him persevere.