Inspiring Survival Stories

I remember nothing about the accident two years ago. It led to my first and only helicopter ride, cost the insurance company about $20,000, and I don’t remember anything. I was biking by myself and the bus hit me. My head broke the windshield; that’s why I was in a coma. The doctors didn’t know what was going to happen, if I’d ever wake up.

At George Washington University, I trained in general surgery, and I did additional training in cancer surgery at City of Hope. Then about eight years ago, after my own cancer treatment, I dedicated my practice to breast cancer.

I’ve been diagnosed three times—when I was 18, 20, and 22. Hodgkin’s lymphoma, every time. The first time was just before I started college. I had a recurring fever and the antibiotics weren’t working. So I went to the doctor just to make sure I didn’t have pneumonia. I got a chest X-ray and they found an 8-centimeter mass sitting on the left side of my heart.

The oldest of my five children is 13, and Carlee, my youngest, was born last July. The pregnancy was normal, and there was nothing unusual about the delivery. Her evaluation was good; she seemed fine. Then they ran a pulse oximetry heart-defect screening test, something they’d just started doing nine days earlier because of a new state law.

Lisa Becker, 42, of Costa Mesa, tells writer Michael Goldstein about regaining control of her life and how she’s helping others do the same.

Suzanne Maldonado-Rael, 34, of La Mirada, on how her heart stopped after the Surf City USA Marathon, and the fellow runner who saved her life.

Dale Hahn, 50, tells writer Rachel Powers about family, sacrifice, and the decision to care for his son after a life-altering accident.

Kiah Bertoglio, 27, of Orange, a fourth-year medical student at UC Irvine, discusses the pressure she puts on herself to succeed.

Tiffany Cruz, 24, recalls a freak electrical shock she and her teenage sister experienced in her parent’s Garden Grove swimming pool.