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In This Issue:
Thanksgiving is a favorite holiday in Robert Sternberg’s Southern California home. He and his wife host about 30 guests – including five grandchildren – for the traditional turkey dinner. When this 61-year-old retired manager gives thanks for being able to enjoy his family during the holidays, Sternberg will be offering thanks to David Sugarbaker, MD, BWH’s chief of Thoracic Surgery, and his team. “Thirty seconds after I walked into his office, I knew BWH was where I had to be,” said Sternberg, who was diagnosed with stage 3 non-small cell lung cancer. After Sternberg underwent chemotherapy treatment, Sugarbaker performed surgery on him in March 2003 and the cancer has not returned since. “I am absolutely thankful for BWH, Dr. Sugarbaker and the whole Thoracic Surgery team,” Sternberg said. “BWH was my only hope.”
On Thanksgiving, when DeeDee Snyder looks across the table at Christopher, her 13-year-old son, she gives thanks for all the care, support and encouragement from everyone in the BWH Dialysis Unit during her difficult pregnancy. Snyder, now 43, was diagnosed with glomerulonnephritis, a chronic renal disease, when she was 13. “I had always wanted to have children,” she said, but was told she couldn’t. At 19, she was pregnant with Christopher and stepped up her dialysis regiment to six days a week, four hours each day, while pregnant, and delivered her first of two children without complication. “I am so thankful for Tracy Stanton and all the nurses and staff in Dialysis. They were all so supportive. They explained everything to me and helped so much in getting through each day for eight months,” said Snyder, who is now a kidney transplant recipient. “Without them, I don’t know how I would have made it.”
Judelsy Gonzalez, a senior at New Mission High School, has high ambitions, and this holiday season, she’s grateful for being able to participate in BWH’s Student Success Jobs Program (SSJP). Gonzalez is one of 30 Boston teens in SSJP, which provides high school students interested in health care careers the opportunity to work in various BWH departments, receive career coaching and attend an overnight retreat at Crossroads for Kids in Duxbury. “I am very thankful for the opportunities I have through SSJP. The retreat really made an impact because one of the sessions included all the kids sharing their goals about their future careers,” Gonzalez said. “It’s supportive to find teenagers with the same ambitions and mentality as me. I also got to do challenges which were difficult at first because I am afraid of heights, so I really had to reach inward and find some courage in order to conquer those tasks.”