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When Ashley developed a rare condition following a heart transplant, she turned to Barnes-Jewish Hospital.

Mike Mueller, 61, from Swansea, Illinois, had multiple heart tests done a few years ago and was free of any blockage. However, blockage can occur quickly. He recently started feeling pressure in his chest but didn’t believe it could be his heart. For a few days, a lingering cough—maybe bronchitis—was the reason he hadn’t been feeling well. On Dec. 26, 2024, while playing pickleball at the local YMCA with his son, who was in town for the holidays, Mike started feeling winded and dizzy.

Known as ‘Coach’ to everyone in the Farmington, Missouri, community, Gary Koch, 79, has made a lasting impact both on and off the basketball court. A Missouri Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame inductee, he spent more than 40 years coaching college women’s and high school boys’ varsity basketball. Now retired, he is thankful for the wonderful care he received after a serious heart scare last summer.

Richard Hood’s workouts at his St. Peters gym were rigorous and routine. The 78-year-old would split his hour and a half evenly between running on a treadmill and lifting weights. So when he began feeling dizzy during a January gym visit, Richard knew he wasn’t just tired.

Deirdre Parnell was diagnosed with diabetes more than eight years ago. She then began experiencing pain in her feet, which spread to her legs and hands. Eventually, the pain grew so intense she had to take a leave of disability at work.

Bruce and Andrea Slaner both turned to the Pain Management Center at Parkland Health Center, for help with chronic pain. Today they are living pain-free and getting back to life, together.

But the minor twinge that started after one of her regular weight-lifting sessions soon grew into intense shoulder pain with accompanying arm and wrist weakness that threatened to sidetrack her busy life. She had a ruptured disc in her cervical (neck) spine.

Imagine waking up one day with a strange sensation in your legs. It’s not pain exactly, but it’s not normal — you don’t quite feel like your brain is coordinating with your limbs.

Bill Bunch’s favorite activities include golfing, tending to his yard, and playing catch with his grandson. Each one became more difficult and less enjoyable for the retiree during a six-year span in which a worsening back condition affected his hips, legs, and feet.