During Open Enrollment, you might not be thinking about Hoag’s investment in innovative treatment options. But we are.
Whether it’s molecular therapy, genomic medicine, award-winning robotic and minimally invasive surgical care, leading-edge technology and hundreds of advanced clinical trials, Hoag is constantly thinking about how our innovations affect your life.
Laurie Paolone got a ring-side view of Hoag’s commitment to innovative treatment options when she was diagnosed with Stage 4 pancreatic cancer in 2019.
“My world just stopped,” she said. “My first thought was, I can’t have my parents bury me.”
At Hoag, Laurie found a team with the strength, compassion and determination to go into battle at her side. Commanding the troops, in Laurie’s eyes, has been Hoag Family Cancer Institute oncologist Tara Seery, M.D.
“I call her my Five-Star General,” Laurie said. “I put my trust in her 100%.”
Dr. Seery said that within a year of undergoing surgery and radiation, Laurie’s cancer returned. The five-year survival rate for people with recurrent pancreatic cancer is about 11%. Tough odds, but Laurie’s Five-Star General and well-armed battalion didn’t give up the fight.
In 2021, after her second recurrence, Laurie became one of the first people in the country to be treated with the ViewRay MRIdian, the only MRI-guided radiation therapy system that allows radiation oncologists at
Hoag to target tumors in places where they were previously unable to treat.
“The difficulty in treating pancreatic tumors, lung tumors and the like, is that the organs shift around with every breath a patient takes,” said Hoag radiation oncologist Brian Kim, M.D. “With the ViewRay, we’ve been able to treat areas of disease that we never thought imaginable.”
Recently, Laurie shared that she received her latest test results.
“I’m cancer free,” she said. “With the MRIdian I was able to beat cancer! I’m here, I’m thriving and I’m able to travel and live my life.”
During Open Enrollment in the years before her cancer diagnosis, Laurie likely chose Hoag for reasons that had nothing to do with its commitment to innovation. Now, the three-time pancreatic cancer survivor says she is grateful that Hoag stays on the forefront of advancements that improve patients’ lives.
