Day of Giving: Alaska woman finds specialized treatment at Rhode Island Hospital
“The March 25 Day of Giving at Rhode Island Hospital honors our health care heroes and the people they’ve helped.
People come from near and far to be treated by one renowned surgeon, including an Alaska woman who says he saved her life.
“It was pretty scary time,” said Lynette Veelman.
It was December 2017, and Veelman knew something wasn’t right.
“My big toe was going numb,” Veelman said. “I had bladder issues”
More than three years after she had had a benign tumor removed from her breast, a new diagnosis.
“We were flabbergasted. Shocked,” she said.
A chondrosarcoma, a rare bone tumor in her spine, resistant to chemotherapy and radiation.
With surgery her only option, the Alaska resident traveled to the renowned Johns Hopkins in Maryland, where the doctor she met told her this:
“The best surgeon is Ziya Gokaslan in Rhode Island,” Veelman said.
He is chief of neurosurgery at Rhode Island Hospital.
“I specialize in complex spinal tumors, and these types of procedures are fairly routine for me and my team,” Gokaslan said.
“When I met Dr. Gokaslan, it was just this immediate feeling of safe,” Veelman said.
The surgery to remove the tumor was a success…”
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