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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.

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.

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.

Donald thought he was out of pain relief options until one doctor suggested a spinal cord stimulator

The handmade sign said, “Colton, I beat cancer” with a photo of St. Louis Blues player Colton Parayko and Ashlynn Wilson, a teenager who recently became cancer free, ice skating together at Enterprise Center.

Matt Neil, radiotherapy service engineer on the BJC clinical asset management team.