Catherine Zalewski knew right away that she was having a stroke. She just wasn’t able to tell anyone around her. Catherine, who was Miss New Jersey in 2011, was working at her gym as a personal trainer on the morning of July 30 when she suddenly began feeling “very strange,” [...]
Lydia Arana, 79, is a soft-spoken woman, living with Parkinson’s disease but not willing to let it keep her down. The Matawan resident was diagnosed with the degenerative neurological disease in 2007 and has lived with fluctuating levels of intense tremors for years, but last year she started the [...]
Gina Barnett was living in extreme pain. Her pelvic area felt so heavy that she could barely walk, forcing the 52-year-old Freehold resident to give up exercise, singing, and just about every other activity she loved. “I was constantly uncomfortable,” says Gina, describing unbearable pressure and pain that extended [...]
Though Howell resident Heather Cooper had once been an active, outgoing person, her symptoms from early onset Parkinson’s disease began five years ago and got progressively worse. “I’d always been very adventurous and athletic and had even worked as a yoga instructor and at a ski resort managing a lodge, [...]
Fung-Ping Siniakin was struggling with severe allergies and fibromyalgia, a debilitating syndrome that impairs the muscles and joints, when she was also diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. “I felt completely overwhelmed,” the 57-year-old Manalapan resident says. “Not only was I fighting constant fatigue, pain, and immobility from the [...]
Muriel Smith of Freehold stopped getting yearly mammograms at 75. “Who needs them at this age?” she thought. Four years later, the offer of a $50 off spa gift certificate with any mammogram at the Star & Barry Tobias Women’s Health Center at CentraState piqued her interest, and [...]
She says she was fortunate her cancer was detected at all; fortunate to have a dedicated team of cancer experts close to home at CentraState; and fortunate to maintain a positive attitude with the help of family and friends, especially her husband, Fred, who was there for her every [...]
When Deborah Mozak was diagnosed with breast cancer, it had already spread to the lymph nodes in her underarm and neck. “She essentially had inoperable breast cancer when she was diagnosed,” says Bhavesh Balar, MD, a board-certified and fellowship trained hematologist and oncologist on staff at CentraState. “It was [...]
Karen Swantek, a self-professed “health nut” and avid exerciser, was running on a treadmill at the gym when she suddenly felt severe pain in the center of her chest. Thinking it was probably just something she ate, she kept running—but the pain did not subside. Karen then drove herself [...]
For years, Margaret Sharkey suffered from on-and-off constipation and abdominal discomfort that made daily life a struggle. In May 2017, a bout of sharp pain led doctors to order a CT scan that found her colon was almost completely blocked. “I was in bad shape—I was doubled over, rocking back and [...]
