Health care is personal and local – and that comes through in this collection of stories about health care in West Michigan. Whether the story is about the business of health care or medical developments, the human impact is an integral part of the story.
“Respecting donor demands” explores a dispute over the use of donations between a research institute and parents who raised money for pediatric cancer research. In “Life is fragile,” a story about my mother is the starting point for a discussion about caring for parents with dementia. “New hope for children” shows how one doctor’s interest in helping children with ulcerative colitis led to a study using fecal transplants that showed promising results. “From grief to family of nine” tells how a couple met after each had lost a spouse to brain cancer. It tells of their emotional journey through grief to marriage to life with their blended family of seven children.