Medical Marvels

WABC-TV, ABC's local television affiliate in New York City, hosts an online series called "Medical Marvels." The series highlights the stories of patients who underwent extraordinary medical procedures at NewYork-Presbyterian. Below are the stories featured in the series.

Jorge Vicente Lopez

At first, Jorge Vicente Lopez thought he had a cold as he was tired and short of breath. After a week of feeling ill, he became unable to work anymore and went to the Emergency Department at NewYork-Presbyterian Queens.

Doctors quickly discovered that he had two major problems with his heart and his life was in serious danger. Jorge had a unique case of aortic coarctation (narrowing of his aorta), a condition usually present at birth that had gone undiagnosed till now. ( Read Taylor's full story )
Taylor Brown

Taylor Brown is an online fitness content creator on Instagram and leads a busy and productive life in Canarsie Brooklyn. One day she woke up experiencing some nausea and shortness of breath that led her to the ER NewYork-Presbyterian Brooklyn Methodist Hospital. A work-up revealed significantly decreased heart function and she deteriorated rapidly with dropping blood pressure and cardiac failure. She was intubated and a temporary ventricular assist device was placed to support her heart. ( Read Taylor's full story )
Patrick Hellen

Patrick Hellen is an avid golfer who was in good health when he underwent a routine colonoscopy. The procedure revealed a polyp in the cecum — the first section of the large intestine. His gastroenterologist attempted twice to remove it, but was unsuccessful due to its large size and location. At that point, Dr. Parul Shukla, the Vice Chief of Colon & Rectal Surgery at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center, got involved. ( Read Patrick's full story )
Meline Dickson

During the winter of 2013, Meline Dickson was on a ski trip out West with her husband and some good friends. She got concerned when she began to have chest pains and decided to get checked out at a local medical center. ( Read Meline's full story )
Rebecca Szymanski

Rebecca Szymanski was born with a three-chambered heart with no right ventricle. Szymanski had multiple heart surgeries to correct this heart condition before the age of 6. The benefits of the operations were estimated to last 20 years, but lasted for 27 years until she began having shortness of breath caused by blood clots. ( Read Rebecca's full story )
Eliana Marcia

A well-known singer from Brazil who is a stroke survivor talks about her experience with NewYork-Presbyterian's Mobile Stroke Treatment Unit. ( Read Eliana's full story )
Maya Katz

Maya Katz is a young mother of three and a speech pathologist at a local school in New York City. She was dealing with chronic back pain that seemed to be triggered by her pregnancies and would then resolve after childbirth. ( Read Maya's full story )
Jacqueline Snyder-Allen

Jacqueline Snyder-Allen thought she was just suffering from her yearly cold, but her level of exhaustion was unprecedented. Her husband, Thomas E. Allen, quickly realized something was very wrong and raced her from their home in Cold Spring to NewYork-Presbyterian Hudson Valley Hospital.
Tom Meyers

Tom Myers, an executive chef at one of New York City's top dinner clubs, was riding his motorcycle home when a vehicle that was making a left-hand turn hit him. The collision flung the 56-year-old married father of two children into the air and totaled the bike. Tom was taken to the emergency department of NewYork-Presbyterian Queens, a Level 1 Trauma Center. ( Read Tom's full story )
Sandra Hayes & Robert Ward

A couple with cancer receives best treatment protocols and personal care right in their home town. ( Read Sandra & Robert's full story )
Cherie Aimée

A woman in the prime of her life arrived at NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center in dire condition. ( Read Cherie's full story )
Joseph Cappuccilli/Mark Chamberlain

Policeman donates kidney to save fellow officer ( Read Joseph's full story )
Kelly Rollo

Kelly Rolo had been suffering from torturous headaches, with weird symptoms where the left and right sides of her body would differ dramatically in temperature. Doctors at NewYork-Presbyterian embarked on a surgery that was the first of its kind, and now her prognosis is great. ( Read Kelly Rollo's full story )
Carolyn Dempsey

New scalp cooling system prevents hair loss from chemotherapy ( Read Carolyn's full story )
Lou Auriemma / Gina Vintalore

Lou Auriemma and his cousin Gina Vintalore have always shared a family bond. Now they share a liver. ( Read Lou & Gina's full story )
Robert Frank Azopardi

Doctors at NewYork-Presbyterian gave Robert Frank Azopardi a trial drug for his Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia. ( Read Robert's full story )
Roberta Schneider

Medical Marvels looks at the case of a woman diagnosed with esophageal cancer who was already no stranger to battling a health crisis. ( Read Roberta's full story )
David Epstein

During a routine physical, David Epstein learned he was living with a ticking time bomb in his chest.
Faith Fulginiti

Faith Fulginiti is recovering from a cutting edge procedure to treat lymphedema and chronic venous disease. ( Read Faith's full story )
Peter Reikes

In this edition of Medical Marvels, a look at how the staff at the Perelman Heart Center at New York Presbyterian Hospital saved Peter Reikes with an ECMO machine. ( Read Peter's full story )
Glen Zammit

In this edition of Medical Marvels, a look at how heart patient Glen Zammit was helped by a new, non-surgical procedure for replacing heart valves. ( Read Glen's full story )
Kelly Boyle

In this edition of Medical Marvels, doctors at New York Presbyterian Lower Manhattan Hospital are using telemedicine to evaluate and diagnose stroke patients. ( Read Kelly Boyle's full story )
Dr. Jake Chanin

Medical Marvels Runners Edition: A cardiologist hopes to inspire his patients by running in the TCS NYC Marathon. ( Read Dr. Jake's full story )
Joe Russo

It was one of Joe Russo's patients that inspired him to run in the New York City Marathon for the first time. ( Read Joe's full story )
Tara Barlow

Tara Barlow is running the New York City Marathon for pediatric liver transplant patients. ( Read Tara's full story )
Denise Buist

Denise Buist suffered from severe sciatica until neurosurgeon Roger Härtl, MD, performed an innovative, minimally-invasive procedure on her. ( Read Denise's full story )
Abbey Monzietti

Abbey Monzietti was born with an extremely rare and large tumor. When she was just three days old, NewYork-Presbyterian surgeon Nitsana Spigland, MD, performed lifesaving surgery on her. ( Read Abbey's full story )
Jacob Downer

Jacob Downer was born with an extremely small jaw and a cleft palate. From his first moment of life he struggled to breathe, and so the decision was made to begin changing Jacob's life when he was just days old. ( Read Jacob's full story )
Manuel Greco

Manuel Greco battles Von Hippel-Lindau disease, a rare condition that causes tumors to grow in certain parts of the body. ( Read Manuel's full story )
Brady Jenkins

Six-year-old Brady Jenkins has a rare genetic syndrome that will cause him to develop thyroid cancer. ( Read Brady's full story )
Susan Koujak

Susan Koujak survived two double lung transplants. Now she wants to have a child. ( Read Susan's full story )
Robert and Dianne Kaiser

Robert Kaiser was battling end stage kidney disease until his wife, Dianne, stepped in and offered one of her kidneys.
Maureen Cavanaugh

Maureen Cavanaugh struggled with her weight for years. A new weight loss surgical procedure helped her. ( Read Maureen's full story )