Category: Story

Pain, tightness in the chest and numbness down one arm – these are the symptoms that come to mind when we hear “heart attack.” So when Chris Armstrong felt overwhelming nausea and dizziness, leaving him too weak to even leave the shower, he didn’t think the cause was a blocked artery in his heart. However,…

Every year there are around 6,000 kidney transplants performed in the United States. As wonderful as that number is, there are still 93,000 people waiting on a kidney, either from a deceased individual or a living donor. Jean Sime of Wayne, New Jersey was one of those thousands waiting on a new kidney. Jean had…

As a young adult, Olivia Davis was in great physical shape and had always lived a very health conscious lifestyle. After giving birth to her daughter in the 1990s, she found it hard to maintain that lifestyle. “I went through a series of bad events in my 40s which contributed to my weight gain,” said…

Annie Mueller has been a nurse at Hackensack Meridian Mountainside Medical Center since 1992. In recent years, she started experiencing intense hip pain. “Being a nurse, I was afraid to have the issue addressed because I knew what I was likely going to have to undergo a hip replacement,” said Mueller. After a vacation with…

The morning of Christmas Eve 2018, Barbara Donahue was getting ready for her family’s annual dinner. “Around 10 a.m., I told someone sitting nearby that I was starting to get a headache and my eye was hurting, which I thought was very strange,” said Donahue. “My oldest son turned to look at me and said…

On June 5, 2014, Sergeant Fred Arnold’s day started out just like any other day. “That morning, my police department was participating in our bi-annual weapons qualifications training at the Essex County Police Academy’s Shooting Range,” said Arnold. “After we finished up I made a quick stop before making my way back to police headquarters.…

At Mountainside Medical Center, the safety of our patients and their families is top priority and is something we encourage all of our staff members to take seriously. Jill Ryan, Manager, Emergency Management and Safety Officer at Mountainside Medical Center, is speaking about the ways in which we strive to keep our patients safe and…

Since the age of 18, Audrey Gholston had struggled with her weight. “Like a lot of women, I started gaining weight after I had my first child,” said Gholston. “I tried different weight loss methods but I always gained back any weight that I had lost.” After more than a decade of weight problems, she…

Rachel Dolahan, a New Jersey music teacher, experienced a great life change whenever she decided to visit Dr. Karl Strom, bariatric surgeon with Mountainside Medical Center. Prior to this visit, she had an initial bariatric surgery that was not successful. “When I first saw Dr. Strom, he discovered that my lap band had failed,” said…

Dan Sarnowski and Betsy Niles met on an online dating website in 2001. Although never married, the couple shared a great life and many wonderful memories together. “Betsy and I were together for 10 years,” said Sarnowski. “In March of 2011, she was struck by a man driving a van which led to massive brain…