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Debbi Jesse, 51, is outside mowing her lawn, an activity she couldn’t do prior to her ultra-minimally invasive—also known as endoscopic—spine surgery at Barnes-Jewish West County Hospital. For years, Debbi had been in pain, which ranged from stabbing to sharp to shooting throughout most of the lower half of her body, including her back, hips, and glutes.

Last fall, Pam Ludy, 65, took a trip with her sister to North Carolina. But Pam, who has osteoarthritis in both knees, had a hard time walking.

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.

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.

Two wheels sped down a rural Missouri highway, and a 14-year-old fell in love. “It was a freedom feeling,” Tom Waller says, more than six decades after his first motorcycle ride. “And I’ve never lost it.

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.

Washington University School of Medicine and BJC Health System, both located in St. Louis, have launched the joint Center for Health AI to harness the power of cutting-edge artificial intelligence (AI) and fundamentally change the way health care is provided.