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Nikeyia Ingram, 38, who was diagnosed with sickle cell disease (SCD) at just 6 months old, experiences pain nearly every day due to the red blood cell disorder. Most days, she’s able to treat the pain and manage her disease by controlling her stress, staying hydrated and keeping in touch with her medical team. Lately, Ingram has been finding that grief has been affecting her ability to manage her disease. Last year, she lost her 15-year-old, Demetrius Ingram, her only son, in a car accident. The heartache exacerbates her pain.

An epidemic of chronic diseases continues to grow in the United States; half the population — an estimated 129 million Americans — have lifelong health conditions that need continuous medical attention and limit certain daily activities.

Whether your favorite summer activity is taking a long hike on a trail, catching waves at the beach or having fun at a backyard barbecue, the warmer temperatures generally mean more time spent outdoors in the sun. But because more exposure to sunlight means more exposure to the sun’s ultraviolet A and B rays, you need to take steps to protect yourself from cancer-causing ultraviolet radiation.

In a surgical suite at Barnes-Jewish Hospital, a robotic arm snakes an ultra-thin, ultra-flexible tube through a patient’s airway. Once the tube reaches the lungs, the surgeon operating the device remotely uses a tiny camera to search the area for an abnormal growth, or nodule, that might be cancerous. Once located, a needle pierces the nodule for biopsy.