
Angie Kulczar started smoking when she was in college. “I don’t know why I decided to try it,” she said. “I thought I was strong enough to not let myself get addicted to smoking; but I had no idea how powerful nicotine is. I became addicted pretty fast and was a smoker for over 30 years.”

Cucumbers, tomatoes, and peppers aren’t the only things growing this summer. Stronger family bonds and healthy habits are also in bloom thanks to a grant that helped the establishment of 17 Goshen Health community gardens.

Mark Brow, 73, can still hear the voices of his cardiac rehab team in his head. He and his wife Claudia completed the Ornish Lifestyle Medicine Program at Goshen Heart & Vascular Center in December 2023. Recently, when faced with additional stress, Mark tapped into the resources they’d learned from the program.

Reluctant to face knee surgery, Sandy suffered with debilitating knee pain for over five years. Finally in 2022, she had not one – but two knee replacements, one in April and one in July!

The first time Barbara Sheets had a breast biopsy, she felt relieved. The suspicious spot was nothing more than fibroid tumors—not cancer. A second biopsy years later showed the same result.

Darrell Moore didn’t know much about cancer or how it feels to go through months of treatment. He had talked with his mom about her breast cancer and heard stories about battles with the disease from friends and coworkers.

Chris Knapp had no reason to question his health. He had been healthy all his life. The last doctor he had seen was his pediatrician when he was age 12. That was decades ago.

Truffle isn’t your typical volunteer at Goshen Center for Cancer Care. She is one of the shortest in the group and just a youngster, although no one knows her exact age.

Time stood still for Rachael Hoffert when she heard she had breast cancer. In her mind, she was too young, at age 42, to think much about cancer. She thought she had found a cyst during a self-exam, not something serious.

Andy Gall thought he was doing his best to take care of his health. His diabetes was a part of life, but he wasn’t about to let it slow him down.

Jody Emerson, 50, assumed her heart was healthy. She didn’t have hypertension or diabetes, and no one in her family had heart disease. She knew her cholesterol was a little high, but she wasn’t on medication. And yet, when Jody felt an odd sensation in her jaw, it was unusual enough that she mentioned it to a friend.

Everything happens for a reason in Danielle Kijak’s world. However, she didn’t know why she got cervical cancer at age 31.