When Freehold resident John Russo fell after a progressive decline in his ability to walk, he figured he’d have to endure another joint replacement surgery. But he was shocked to learn that a serious spinal condition was causing his pain—and partial paralysis. John, 54, was in the Navy during [...]
Forgot where you parked your car or your favorite niece’s birthday? It’s easy to chalk it up to age and say there’s nothing you can do about it. But you can take steps to improve your memory. “If your brain has changed with age, you have to change the [...]
Brian Giacchi has experienced muscle spasms off and on since age 9. When the condition ramped up in his 20s, he sought medical advice. Unfortunately, several years of doctors’ visits, testing, and frustration failed to solve the mystery. Then finally, at age 34, he got an answer: he had [...]
A few years ago, Walter “Bud” Burch’s wife, Kathy, found him on the kitchen floor writhing in pain. He had to be carried to their truck before being driven to the emergency department. Suffering from a chronic condition called trigeminal neuralgia, Bud lived with this kind of intense pain [...]
While some people live with some degree of pain, those with chronic pain may struggle to complete even the simplest activities of daily living, severely impacting their quality of life. A relatively new therapy—neuromodulation—can greatly alleviate discomfort for chronic pain sufferers. Neuromodulation devices work by delivering gentle electrical impulses [...]
For Bob Granito, the personal obstacles he conquers during a 12-mile Tough Mudder® are harsher than the challenges of a 16-foot-high wall, dangling live wires, or a water pit. A veteran participant of 10 Tough Mudders, the 55-year-old Freehold resident demonstrates that his multiple sclerosis (MS) does not define [...]
In 1993, Elizabeth Losardo, then 64, and her husband Michael, had just retired from Brooklyn to Monroe Township and were ready to start living the good life—including wintering in Florida. As Elizabeth recalls, it was a normal day. She woke up and merely had an innocent yawn. The next [...]
Ulcerative colitis by itself would have been bad enough. By the time Kristin Detamore, then 35, returned to work as a school social worker after the birth of her second son, she was accustomed to the pain from inflammatory bowel disease. But the headache baffled her. Unfortunately, the headache soon [...]
Life has been compared to a carousel—sometimes up, sometimes down, and sometimes round and round. No one understands that better than Mary Jean Sehnal, who suffered from vertigo (the sensation of spinning), weakness, and other problems that impaired her balance for the past 10 years. [...]
Fred Cerbini had undergone a root canal just two days earlier when he began experiencing problems with his vision. First, he failed to notice a pile of brush on the side of the curb and hit it with his car, and then later that morning he struggled to compose [...]
