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Infectious Disease Stories

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Patients visit our campus every day, seeking our expert care for infectious diseases. Read our patients' stories and learn how you can support our work in infectious disease research and treatment.

 

Breathing Easier Through Bach
Janet Hoffman was never one to sit on the sidelines, splitting her time between the sands of Vero Beach, Florida, and the mountains of Aspen, Colorado. After a year of chronic coughing and low energy though, she went to the only one place that had the answers  for her – National Jewish Health.

 

Toni Sennott

Online search leads Massachusetts patient to National Jewish Health
Four years ago, Toni Sennott was diagnosed with Mycobacterium avium complex, or MAC. Finding Gwen Huitt, MD, a renowned expert in infectious diseases, helped Toni unlock the mystery behind her illness and it “changed her life.”

 

Jon Bernhard

‘National Jewish Health is the reason I’m here’
A chronic lung condition hasn’t kept Jon Bernhard from living a life of adventure. For 30 years, he has been a National Jewish Health patient. Today, he gives back to the institution in unique ways.

 

Singer Judy Collins

'What I really remember was the kindness, the total focus on the professional direction of the recovery.'
The “gurgling” in her lungs should have been a warning to singer Judy Collins. But in the fall of 1962, the 23-year-old folk singer was touring regularly before finally being diagnosed with tuberculosis and traveling to Denver for treatment at National Jewish Health.

 

Emily Cinquemani

'I don't know how I would've managed if we hadn't figured this all out.'
Emily Cinquemani flew from South Carolina to National Jewish Health, where an entire team of health care professionals, including an allergist, nutritionist, pediatric pulmonologist, nurse practitioner, social worker and respiratory therapist, worked together to discover what was plaguing her and how to treat it.

 

Deborah Schwartz

'There is no other place in the world like it.'
More than eight years after being diagnosed with Mycobacterium avium complex, Deborah Schwartz is feeling great thanks to the care she received at National Jewish Health.

 

Marcia O'Bryan

A “Picc”-Me-Up During Treatment for MAC
Marcia O’Bryan’s pursuit of “the best” care for her respiratory condition not only guided her to National Jewish Health; it also led to her discovery of an innovative medical product that would become a thriving business.

 

W. Merrill Carter

Two Second Chances at Life
After a shocking diagnosis of tuberculosis, National Jewish Health saved W. Merrill Carter’s life not once, but twice.