Tag: more than a patient

Overcoming obstacles to beat the odds

Faith, loved ones, and a multidisciplinary care team all played a role in successfully treating an aggressive type of breast cancer

Devout Christian. Supportive wife and mother. Compassionate community leader. Loving sister and daughter. Nonprofit founder and executive. These are just a few of the myriad roles Brenda Atkins Lockley has inhabited throughout her lifetime. She never imagined that breast cancer survivor and activist would be added to the list.

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Small Signs, Big Impact On Life

During the summer of 2021, in the first few weeks after Dunlap Family Outpatient Center opened on the main campus of St. Clair Health, a 45-year-old woman was referred to Mark A. Cedar, D.O., Chief of Gastroenterology and Director of the GI Lab at St. Clair Hospital. “At first I was happy to see someone who met the new screening age criteria (down from 50) for colorectal cancer exams coming in to see me. But there was a reason: a small change in bowel habits. Shannon presented with no weight loss and no abdominal pain and her labs showed iron deficiency anemia—which is not uncommon for a woman her age,” Dr. Cedar says.

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More Than Miles

Walking from Munhall, where Bob Bodnar grew up, to Scott Township, where he now lives, covers just over half of a full marathon. Google Maps tells you that charting that course would take almost five hours out of your day. Upon being told this, Bob laughs.

“I was never a fast runner, just a determined one. I was never concerned with my place in a race or my finishing time. My best marathon was 4 hours and 51 minutes—but I never stopped. My goal was always to finish.” Starting in 1990, Bodnar was a runner. He caught the fitness bug following his divorce, seeking to channel his energy into something positive. After five years of lifting weights and dabbling in a 5k here and a 10k there, Bodnar knew there was more he could do.

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