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Show C-6 tfottfay GfFfte pitting? Center 36 HEBEI AVE., PAIR CITY, UT 84060 Sandra Pratt Plains c Skv zi.j"x 25.5" I- ! I I .,,1 . T. I i L4l. & f , t i. 111 SANDRA NEW PAINTINGS STACY ram NEW MM II 11 IT lim y RECEPTION FOR THE DECEMBER SATURDAY 2-6 PM PARK CITY GALLERY The public is invited to a reception for painter Sandra Pratt and sculptor Stacy PhillifS at Coda Gallery, 804 Main Street, from 2-6 pm on Saturday, December 27. Meet the artists, browse the wild and whimsical fine art of Coda Gallery while enjoying enjoy-ing refreshments and appetizers, the exhibit can be viewed in the gallery through January 11, 2004. For more information, please call 655-3803. CODA Gallery 804 Main Street I Park City, Utah 84060 435655380318776553803 www.c0dagaiie7.com located across from the Town Lift in Summit Watch Marriott Plaza Cybercafe PC Roasters coffee, Ton of Machine!, Tt connection. Print, Scan, Even Bum CD' 7 Satisfying Days a Week 738 Lower Main Street 649-0051 J 107o off any of our ( l drinks with i I computer use. No I I coupon necessary. J Limited time TJie drab open. Alfattwoy, yw cor walk 'm off Ae street and I use oil our business services and personnel on on hourly basis, and only pay for what you use. Juenpstort your future at Gateway. Tk Pmautet& f J I 435.655.9696 I www.gatewaybusinesstenter.com oil on canvas SCULPTURE ARTISTS 2003 Stacy Phillips 55" x 14" x 14 Clay, Paper, Turquoise, Coral, Steel Base The Park Christmas: a time for healing (AP) If you ask why little Brandon Connor's tumor suddenly disappeared disap-peared on the eve of his surgery, his doctors will try their best to explain. Perhaps a cellular switch clicked on, or maybe it was a faulty diagnosis. But ask Brandons mother and she calls it a miracle. Many doctors dont use the "m" word, a concept that carries mystic or , religious overtones. An unexpected recovery is an unusual wrinkle in their scientific beliefs,' but it does happen. "You get surprises because diseases . have their own personality, and every once in a while, a disease thatfc usually usual-ly bad behaves in a more indolent fashion," said Dr. David Steinberg, an oncologist at the Lahey Clinic Medical Center in Burlington, Mass. For more than a decade during the Christmas season, Steinberg highlighted high-lighted "miracle cases" at the clinic, presenting tales of remarkable recoveries recov-eries to lift the spirits of doctors and , nurses. There are different reasons some patients mysteriously get better. Your Real EstateTeCUTl... V jr jf Tom & Mark 'TIS THE "ALL" SEASONS One Minute Away From Skiing $285,000 2 Bedroom 2 Bath plus Storage Fully Furnished, Underground Parking Hot Tub, Heated Pool, Ski Locker Room Private Back Entrance Free City Bus Stop Near Back Entrance - I F.Tmm V- - & x) (I (i . Record Sometimes, it has to do with the biology biol-ogy of the disease. Other times, a' patient may belong to the lucky 1 percent per-cent of the population who respond to treatment Someone may also live longer than expected because of a misdiagnosis misdiag-nosis that predicted a shorter life. And then there are recoveries that have no clear-cut explanation: like the case of 2-year-old Brandon Connor of suburban Atlanta, or Tun Kaczmarek of Pennsylvania whose dying heart repaired itself, or Stacey Perrotta of New York who survived a rare cancer that produced a softball-sized tumor. In Brandons case, doctors discovered a strange lump growing near his spine while he was still inside his mother womb. Five weeks after he was born, the Connors received bad news: Brandon had neuroblastoma, one of the deadliest forms of childhood cancers. can-cers. Surgery was risky since it could result in paralysis. So doctors decided just to monitor the marble-sized tumor, since sometimes such growths Tom Ward Mark Sanders 800-647-3727 salesskiproperty.com www.c3tlproperty.con Crmgi?atluuHatt5niic tt Jecc I&eM Eteall Estate Is L 1 1 I nil"" I 0a "'h'""' L "Jfc 1 ... -I . I , . IN -Jl' Jill ' "'""" ' Jess Reid Real Estate has not only been a valued customer of The Park Record for over 20 years but has contributed to every aspect of Park City's Community. if- spontaneously disappear in babies before they turn 1. But Brandon kept growing, and the tumor didnt go away. Finally, after he turned 2, Kristin and Mike Connor decided to take 'action. The couple went to the University of California at San Francisco where a neurosurgeon agreed to operate. But on the eve of the surgery last month, the tumor all but vanished. A scan showed no sign of the mass, only fatty tissue. "It was a miracle," said Kristin Connor, who was stunned to hear the good news. "It was surreal to us that this could have possibly happened." Doctors believed Brandon's tumor may have been a neuroblastoma that committed cellular suicide an action some cancer treatments try to produce. But because a biopsy was never done, it was also possible that the lump was another type of tumor that regressed, said Dr. Katherine Matthay, a pediatric oncologist at the university. Since leaving ' the hospital, Brandon has been a bundle of energy, constantly jamming on his keyboard and playing with his 5-year-old brother broth-er Ryan, his mother said. The Connors plan a quiet Christmas Day at home, thankful that the dark cloud of Brandons illness is gone. Then, they'll fly to Missouri to visit relatives who havent seen Brandon in months. Sometimes Kristin Connor feels survivor's guilt about their good fortune for-tune while so many other children are suffering. She has raised $150,(XX) for research into rare childhood cancers. "We were given a miracle to help these other children," she says. For Tim Kaczmarek. a 48-year-old father from Natrona Heights, Pa., hearing his own heartbeat is living proof of his second chance at life. The history teacher and basketball coach collapsed inside a Wal-Mart store this summer after a massive heart attack that nearly killed him. After emergency quadruple bypass surgery at a local hospital, he was transferred to the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center where doctors reopened his chest and implanted a mechanical pump. The device immediately took over 1 his heart's job of pumping blood through the body, letting his own organ rest Doctors fully expected Kaczmarek to stay on the pump long enough to get a heart transplant. There have been cases of heart patients who were weaned off the pump, but usually those had only a brief recent history of heart failure. Kaczmarek was an unlikely candidate for such a recovery because he had suffered his first heart attack almost . Andy and Nan, The Park Record Fee WedThursFri, December 24-26, 2003 miracles? 10 years earlier. But after a month and a half on the pump, doctors saw such improvement in his heart function that they unhooked Kaczmarek from the machine. "It's relatively unusual to see a patient like him recover from a major heart attack," said Dr. Robert Kormos. who runs the artificial heart program at Pittsburgh. Pump-free since July, Kaczmarek is recuperating at home in hopes of returning to teaching next year and ultimately, coacliing again. He feels lucky to have a second chance at spending the holidays with his wife and two daughters, ages 20 and 21 "It's a miracle," he said. "You cant believe something like this happens to a person and you're still here to talk about it." Two years ago, Stacey Perrotta dis-, dis-, covered a mysterious lump in" her stomach. Sometimes it stuck out like a golf ball. It never hurt or bothered her, and when she pushed it, she could hear it pop back in. For four months, she tried to ignore it, hoping it would go away. Finally, a week before a routine doctor's doc-tor's checkup, she told her mother. Stacey was referred to the Golisano Children's Hospital at the University of Rochester Medical Center where a scan revealed a large tumor. Not knowing if it was cancerous, cancer-ous, surgeons removed the softball-sized softball-sized mass. The diagnosis was devastating: devas-tating: Stacey had desmoplastic small round cell tumor, a rare cancer normally nor-mally found in teenage boys. Only 20 percent with the disease survive. Doctors in Rochester had never treated anyone with this cancer before. They pored through the medical med-ical literature and consulted other cancer specialists. Then they decided on a course of treatment that included extra high doses of chemotherapy followed fol-lowed by radiation. "When I started looking at how kids with tliis disease did, I thought, 'Oh boy. This is not good. This is going to be tough," said Dr. David Korones. a pediatric oncologist. Doctors credit Stacey's positive attitude as aiding in her recovery. People have a natural capacity to heal, said Dr. Herbert Benson, a professor pro-fessor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and president of the MindBody Medical Institute at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. "Many times, we, as physicians, are surprised about how well a patient will do," said Benson, who was not one of Stacey's doctors. "I believe that medicine has to leave the door open for" belief and self-care to add to the awesome contribution to healing that drugs and surgery can do." FASTER. EASIER. SIMPLER. 800.250.4906 435.649.3000 www.jessreidrealestate.com |