Church singer Ashley Welborn had lost her voice and was worried she might never sing again. But on Easter Sunday she was able to resume performing with the chorus at her church, thanks to Mark Courey, MD, Professor of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, and Director of the Eugen Grabscheid Voice and Swallowing Center at The Mount Sinai Hospital.
Hoda Farghaly, Patient Ambassador, Mount Sinai Queens, is pursuing a nursing degree.
When I was eight years old, I witnessed my mom involved in a tragic accident. Time was of the essence, and she was rushed to Mount Sinai Queens, the nearest hospital. My sister—who was seven at the time—and I were terrified that we could lose our mother. As our family was preparing for the worst, this “little emergency room that could” saved my mother’s life.
After emergency surgery, she was transferred to an inpatient unit and hospitalized for about three weeks. My sister and I visited her whenever we were able to.
During those times, I encountered so many heroes. I can still remember their names, faces, warm smiles, and kind, soft-spoken words. At a time of uncertainty and distress, these special people—housekeepers, nursing assistants, nurses, and doctors—helped my family feel at ease, and I felt that everything was truly going to be OK.
The day my mother was discharged to rehabilitation, I told myself that I wanted to dedicate my life to helping others with the same compassion and care that my mother received at Mount Sinai Queens.
I learned so much about humanity, empathy, and selflessness during my mother’s hospital stay 17 years ago. I continue to learn and see this today, being surrounded by so many great people who work here.
These amazing people recently inspired my own kind gesture to a patient at Mount Sinai Queens.
This patient had a bucket list. He passionately wanted to travel the world like his brother did, but his health was preventing him from doing that. One of the places on his list was Egypt, and we spoke about its culture and history. Fortunately, I am half Egyptian, and my parents travel often. After work that day, I ran home and grabbed a souvenir I had gotten from Egypt, from the Pyramids of Giza, and brought it to him. I knew I couldn’t help him travel, but I could bring a small piece of another part of the world to his bedside.
He was so surprised and happy, and must have thanked me a million times. Something as small as a souvenir that we might take for granted every day really made such a difference to him.
Veena Agarwal and Sundar Jagannath, MD
A 4’ x 6’ floral landscape painting hangs in the Derald H. Ruttenberg Treatment Center at Mount Sinai thanks to Veena Agarwal, a multimedia artist and patient of Sundar Jagannath, MD, Director, Multiple Myeloma Program, The Mount Sinai Hospital.
Diagnosed with stage III multiple myeloma in 2007, Ms. Agarwal has since waged a decade-long fight against the disease. After a particular reoccurrence left her quite ill, Dr. Jagannath asked Ms. Agarwal what she needed to do to help lift her spirits. “I wanted to walk again and to paint again,” Ms. Agarwal told him. “Both of my wishes were granted by the doctors of Mount Sinai. They inspired me.”
Ms. Agarwal was selected to exhibit 47 paintings at The Creative Center, a nonprofit organization in Manhattan that holds workshops and promotes artistic expression among those with cancer and chronic illnesses. The large biopharmaceutical company Celgene has also commissioned her to complete an 8’ x 5’ painting for its corporate office in New Jersey. “I am very happy to do it,” says Ms. Agarwal. “Colors have come back into my life.”
Matthew Fredricks with medical students, front row, from left: Aliza Green and Zina Huxley-Reicher; back row, from left: Hayley Lynch, Haley Tupper, Letitia Li, Esben Iberson, Halley Kaye-Kauderer, Matt Spindler, and Jenna Hobeika.
Miracles happen. Kindness matters. A touch of the hand can mean “everything.” Those were some of the messages that Matthew Fredricks delivered on Monday, November 27, when he was reunited with a group of students at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai who weeks before had aided and comforted him on a hiking trail when he was having a heart attack.
“In your studies, you are going to learn the mechanics of medicine, you are going to learn all the technical terms and procedures,” Mr. Fredricks said. “But what you guys did instinctively, you can’t be taught that. You showed me compassion, and I am amazingly grateful.”
Mr. Fredricks, a kitchen designer from New City, Rockland County, was at the center of a dramatic rescue on Sunday, October 22, after he collapsed on a steep trail in Harriman State Park. Before he was lifted off the mountain by a helicopter crew—an event shown on local newscasts—he was aided by the group of medical students who were also hiking that day. Weeks later, Mr. Fredricks contacted the Icahn School of Medicine seeking a reunion with the students, and it was arranged at the Annenberg Building.
“You are incredible for making this effort,” David Muller, MD, Dean for Medical Education, and the Marietta and Charles C. Morchand Chair for Medical Education, told Mr. Fredricks. “What happened to you is really rare, but what is even more rare is that you made this effort to find every single person who helped you.”
Matthew Fredricks being lifted from the mountain trail. Courtesy of NYPD
Mr. Fredricks, 59, is an avid hiker and skier, even serving on the National Ski Patrol. A few months before the heart attack, he had what seemed to be persistent heartburn and visited his local primary care doctor and cardiologist, but a stress test and imaging were inconclusive. Mr. Fredricks had hiked the trail—a challenging 2.5-mile round trip—five times in recent months, but on October 22, he stopped near the top because he felt intense pain in his chest and arms. He called it a “miracle” that he was clearheaded enough to pick a resting spot—a flat outcropping of rock—that would be accessible to rescuers. In a second “miracle,” a Pennsylvania couple to whom he had given directions at the bottom of the trail, stopped to ask if he had made it to the top. He told them, “I didn’t, and I’m in trouble.”
The husband called 911 on his cellphone, and then a third “miracle” occurred—the arrival of the Mount Sinai students. The couple asked if they had any medical knowledge. “They were sort of joking, I think,” said Halley Kaye-Kauderer, a second-year student. “I told them ‘Not really, but probably more than anyone else here.’ ” The nine young people are members of WildMed, a group of students interested in the specialty of wilderness medicine—providing emergency care in remote settings. They huddled around Mr. Fredricks, took his pulse, and questioned him about his condition. Letitia Li, a first-year student, folded a lightweight blue towel and put it under Mr. Fredricks’s head. (He kept it, and now wears it “as a fashion statement.”) Second-year students Zina Huxley-Reicher and Aliza Green sat on either side of him. “Aliza simply said, ‘I’m going to hold your hand.’ In that moment, it meant everything,” Mr. Fredricks said, adding that he felt a sense of calm, despite excruciating pain.
After about an hour, emergency responders arrived and sent the students on their way. Mr. Fredricks was taken to the Westchester Medical Center, where a blockage was found in his right coronary artery.
Now he is watching his diet, exercising moderately, and getting follow-up cardiac care. Mr. Fredricks is also trying to thank everyone he can, reaching out to the helicopter pilot, his hospital team, and the rescue workers. He invited the students to go skiing on the mountain he patrols, and he brought each of them a blue towel similar to the one Ms. Li gave him.
“You did the right thing,” Mr. Fredricks told the students who aided him. “Keep doing it. You are in the right place, and you are all amazing people.”
Carmen Rivera at her follow-up appointment with Jessica Lee, MD.
Carmen Rivera of Isabela, Puerto Rico, was seeing black dots in her left eye and having trouble focusing when she visited a doctor who diagnosed her with a retinal detachment and scheduled her for emergency surgery on Tuesday, September 19. As Hurricane Maria approached Puerto Rico, however, the surgery was postponed, and when the island, including the hospital where she was scheduled for surgery, was left without electricity, she faced a serious health crisis. Without immediate treatment, Ms. Rivera risked losing her central vision.
“My doctor in Puerto Rico suggested I get off the island as soon as possible to have the surgery,” recalls Ms. Rivera, whose children stepped in to help—first by driving long distances to get cellular service, and finally by reaching relatives in the Bronx who arranged for her trip to New York City. “By the time I arrived here on October 2, my vision got worse and I couldn’t see anything out of my left eye,” says Ms. Rivera.
Family members brought her to New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai, where retina specialist Jessica Lee, MD, Assistant Professor of Ophthalmology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, performed sight-saving emergency surgery on Monday, October 9. Ms. Rivera underwent retinal detachment repair surgery, which involved placing a gas bubble into the eye to keep the retina in place. “She is recovering nicely,” Dr. Lee says a few weeks after the surgery, noting that it can take about two months for the gas bubble in the eye to dissolve, at which time vision can further improve. At a follow-up visit on Tuesday, December 5, Dr. Lee reports, “Her retina is completely attached and she is doing well.”
“There are no words to describe how grateful I am that everything fell into place so that I could be in New York City and have the surgery. I am so thankful for the excellent care I received,” says Ms. Rivera. “Regaining my vision has been amazing. If I weren’t here, I would still be waiting for the surgery.”
Leadership, faculty, and staff from the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary remain eager to help other patients from Puerto Rico. They recently partnered with Bascom Palmer Eye Institute, the Puerto Rican Society of Ophthalmology, and ophthalmologists throughout the United States to launch “Eye Care: Puerto Rico,” a program that facilitates access to eye care to evacuees in need of emergency care.
With her new cochlear implant in place, Ruth relaxed with her mother, Nancy Komujuni.
Ruth Tatuleka, a 2-year-old from Uganda, was recently given the gift of hearing, thanks to a team of physicians and staff at the Mount Sinai Health System.
Ruth is from Kyabirwa, a village of 1,000 people, and has been deaf since birth. Her family knew that if she were ever to hear, the only solution was a cochlear implant—a small electronic device that stimulates the cochlear nerve, which carries auditory information to the brain. While commonplace in the United States, cochlear implant surgery is rare in the developing world. The family tried to raise funds to take Ruth to India—the closest country that could possibly perform the procedure—but they were unsuccessful. Meanwhile, time was running out, since a child’s first three years are crucial in learning spoken language.
Fortunately for Ruth, a slender lifeline connected her village to New York City: Ruth’s uncle, Charles Kalumuna, MD, volunteers his services at The Allan Stone Community Health Clinic in the village, where a new surgical facility is under construction with donations being raised by Michael L. Marin, MD, the Dr. Julius H. Jacobson II Chair in Vascular Surgery, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, and Surgeon-in-Chief, Mount Sinai Health System.
Dr. Kalumuna reached out to Dr. Marin, who then contacted colleagues at Mount Sinai about Ruth’s case. By August, the little girl was at The Mount Sinai Hospital, undergoing surgery by Maura K. Cosetti, MD, Assistant Professor of Otolaryngology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, and Director of the Cochlear Implant Program at the Ear Institute of the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary at Mount Sinai. “Because hearing is closely tied to language development, our goal is to give children access to sound as early as possible,” Dr. Cosetti says. “We are thrilled to help Ruth and her family in this meaningful way.”
On Monday, September 11, the implant was activated, allowing Ruth to hear the sound of her parents’ voices for the first time—a milestone she met with a quizzical expression. The device was checked and programmed by Jillian Levine-Madoff, AuD, Cochlear Implant Audiologist at the Ear Institute. She established what the family had been hoping for: Ruth now has access to sound. The little girl then began speech therapy sessions, led by Jessica Van Manen, MA, Hearing Habilitation and Speech/Language Pathologist at the Ear Institute, which were a critical part of her recovery since she had previously communicated mainly through gestures.
Maura K. Cosetti, MD, left, Director of the Cochlear Implant Program at the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary at Mount Sinai, was assisted by resident Douglas Worrall, MD.
Ruth and her family are now back in their village, where they continue to work on her hearing and speech skills. “Ruth was granted a chance to reach her full potential, thanks to the amazing team at The Mount Sinai Hospital,” Dr. Kalumuna says. “She is a lot more active and happy now, and definitely enjoys hearing sounds!”
Dr. Marin says, “Seeing an outcome such as Ruth’s inspires me to push forward with changing the standard of how the Western world provides aid and surgical care to areas like Kyabirwa, where safe, accessible surgeries are so crucially needed.”