The Spirit of St. Luke's, Winter 1996
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Advocate Aurora Health Advocate Aurora Health Institutional Repository Aurora St. Luke’s Medical Center Books, Documents, and Pamphlets Aurora St. Luke’s Medical Center May 2018 The Spirit of St. Luke's, Winter 1996 Aurora Health Care Follow this and additional works at: https://institutionalrepository.aah.org/aslmc_books This Pamphlet is brought to you for free and open access by the Aurora St. Luke’s Medical Center at Advocate Aurora Health Institutional Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Aurora St. Luke’s Medical Center Books, Documents, and Pamphlets by an authorized administrator of Advocate Aurora Health Institutional Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. _______ OF ST. LUKESRIT MKM SYSTEM .C N p %• The Spirit ofSt. Luke’s is produced three times a year by St. Luke’s Medical Center/Office of Philanthropy for friends and donors. President, St. Luke’s Medical Center: Mark Ambrosius Vice President for Philanthropy: Brad Holmes Director of Development: Laverne Schmidt Director of Planned Giving: Kelly Sachse Director of Pastoral Care: Harvey Berg Administrative Secretary: Judi Fellows Secretary: Shawnell Colson-Horton Secretary: Slielly Rosenstock Editorial Production Coordination: Susan J. Montgomery Graphic Design & Production: Matt Shockley Please direct gifts and requests for further information to: Office of Philanthropy St. Luke’s Medical Center 2900 W. Oklahoma Ave. , P0. Box 2901 Milwaukee,W1 53201-2901 414-649-7122 Cover: upper right: Dr.Arvind Ahuja; lower left: Dr. P Daniel Suberviola with the MKM microscope; lower right. Dr. Ahuja prepares for a neuroendovascular procedure. Advanced Neurosurgical Techniques Give Patients New Hope 2 Neurosurgeons Use 21st Century MKM Microscope at St. Luke’s I 3 Ken Yontz Honored as Philanthropist of the Year 15 We’re Giving St. Luke’s Part of Our Estate. Without Jeopardizing Our Children’s Inheritance I 6 Why We Give... Donor Profiles 17 The Gift Programs of St. Luke’s Medical Center Office of Philanthropy 20 To our readers: After six years of producing The Spirit of St. Luke’s with the same basic design, we’ve decided to update our look to reflect the dynamic, cutting edge medicine described in these pages.Very special recognition is given ‘\_%., to our printer, Burton & Mayer, Inc. , for their significant contribution of the exciting color printing on our cover. THE SPIRIT OF ST. LUKE’S C D MAGINE YOU’RE HAVING LUNCH WITH in people over 55 years old. Until re Iriends, or playing a leisurely cently, Judy’s chances of beng able to game of golf or talking on the resume a normal life wuld have been phone—and suddenlyyou can’t limited, but now advanced neurosur move your right arm. Then your gical techniques available at a very Ivision blurs. You try to tell whoever limited number of medical centers is close by what’s happening and the across the country are making dra words don’t come out right. You matic recoveries from devastating can’t communicate, but you know strokes possible. something is terribly wrong. You A unique combination of circum have lost control ofyour own body stances worked to Judy’s benefit that andyou don’t know what to do. Sunday afternoon in February. Her If you experience any of these husband called 91 1 and an ambulance frightening symptoms, you may be took her to a nearby hospital emer having a stroke.This is what happened gency room which diverted her to to 55-year-old Judy Bruno from St. Luke’s Medical Center. Fortunately, Franklin. On a pleasant Sunday in several months before Judy’s stroke, February, Judy and her husband had St. Luke’s had intensified its efforts to just had a nice lunch at their son’s treat strokes by launching a “brain at- home. She recalls, “We were finished tack” program that brings together the eating and getting ready to go home. talents of neurologists, radiologists, Suddenly I felt very strange. My head emergency physicians, and neurosur hurt. My right hand became twisted, geons to treat strokes promptly and and as much as I tried to tell my effectively, and to heighten primary husband what was happening, I physician awareness. couldn’t communicate. I was very Active in this effort was Dr. Arvind afraid. I remember thinking, ‘What’s Ahuja, a neurosurgeon newly arrived happening to me? Will I survive this? Will I ever be normal again?’” If she had not gone to Judy’s experience is far from unique. Strokes attack more than one- St. Luke’s or to one of the few half millionAmericans every year and are the third leading cause of death in medical centers in the countrj the United States and the first leading offering this procedure, she cause of disability. Strokes usually occur with little or no warning and can might not be tatking todaj happen to anyone of any age at any time, though they are more common about her experience. S T I U K E S at St. Luke’s who specializes in neu helping her high school-aged daugh roendovascular therapy—an innova ter find a prom dress or enjoying her tive, state-of-the-art approach to four lively grandchildren. She would effectively treating strokes and other rather not think about the possible disorders in the brain. However, one consequences. key to the success ofthis therapy is Judy says, “I was in the right place immediate medical attention. Treat- at the right time. I feel unbelievably ment needs to begin within six hours fortunate that I ended up at St. Luke’s of the onset of symptoms. with Dr. Ahuja.” Judy is doubly fortu St. Luke’s has established a “critical nate, because when she experienced pathway” for the efficient and rapid a second stroke in September, her response to patients with stroke family knew to take her directly to symptoms. So when Judy arrived in St. Luke’s and Dr.Ahuja used neuroen St. Luke’s emergency department she dovascular procedures to reverse her immediately entered that pathway. symptoms again. She is now on blood Within two hours of her first symp thinning medications to help prevent toms, she was in the operating room the formation of the blood clots and with Dr. Ahuja performing a neu her physicians are investigating the roendovascular procedure. underlying causes of her strokes. Within four hours of her symp toms, Judy was speaking again and The Causes of Strokes almost back to normal. If she had not Judy experienced ischemic strokes, gone to St. Luke’s or to one of the few which occur when too little blood medical centers in the country offer- flows to the brain, causing certain ing this procedure, she might not be areas of the brain to become starved talking today about her experience. for oxygen. Blood flow can be inter- She might not be decorating her house rupted in a number ofways. One way for her favorite holiday (Halloween), is when a “thrombus” or fatty deposit forms in the bloodstream and blocks a blood vessel. If oxygen cannot be restored quickly, cells in the brain may die, resulting in partial or com plete loss of crucial functions such as sight, speech, sensation, and move- ment. The other kind of stroke is called hemorrhagic and occurs when blood vessels rupture and place pressure on the brain, often re sulting in death or severe damage to brain cells. Cerebral aneurysms— weak, balloon-like defects that pro- trude from arterial walls in the : . brain—are the most likely cause of is I hemorrhagic strokes. In addition, some people may ex Skm perience transient ischemic attacks (TIAs) when blood flow to certain y areas of the brain is temporarily in- c. terrupted. TIA symptoms may be the . same as stroke symptoms but go away I),: Aintjc, J)1epares a micro-catheter which is placed in the head through the groin. in a few minutes; however, TIAs are THE SPIRIT During a neuroendovascular and head. A variety of different treat- procedure, a mini-catheter ments can be delivered through these is threaded through the procedures, including balloons, parti femoral artery to des, coils, or medications that can the brain. effectively treat blockages, aneurysms or other central nervous system con- ditions by blocking, filling, or opening I up blood vessels. InJudy Bruno’s case, a medication was delivered directly to the blockage in her blood vessel, breaking it up and allowing oxygen to flow freely again to the cells in her brain that had been temporarily deprived of oxygen. if she had not been treated promptly, it is I likely that the deprived cells would have died and left her permanently damaged. Coils delivered through neuroen serious warnings of a possible major dovascular procedures are particularly stroke in the future. The sidebar on effective in treating aneurysms. If page 1 2 of this article lists stroke aneurysms rupture they can result in symptoms. Anyone experiencing death or massive brain damage; how- these symptoms, even if they do not ever, many people with aneurysms are continue, should seek immediate not surgical candidates. Many of these medical attention. inoperable aneurysms can now be treated with neuroendovascular tech- . ..—. IJ niques, including the placement of The outlook for people who experi tiny coils or particles in the aneurysm, ence blockages or aneurysms in their isolating it from the circulation and head, neck, or spine or who have brain reducing the pressure and likelihood tumors is more promising than ever of a rupture or a hemorrhagic stroke. before because of cutting-edge neu rosurgical advancements. (The article that follows highlights one of these advancements, the Zeiss MKM system microscope, which displays three-di mensional images of tumors during intricate brain surgery.) The advance- ment applied so successfully in Judy’s case is neuroendovascular therapy, which requires only a small puncture wound in the skin rather than the open incisions involved in conven tional surgical techniques.