
PHOTOGRAPHY BY DAVID TORRENCE
Even now, the stories are hard to comprehend: a cancer patient facing long odds saved by his colleagues’ research, a once-catatonic girl back in school and playing volleyball, a child who couldn’t walk now climbing mountains. New treatments at area hospitals have made the once-impossible possible—and dramatically changed these patients’ lives in the process.
By Stefene Russell
Soldier On (Web-Exclusive Extended Version)
By Nancy McMullen
Cracking Cancer's (Genetic) Code
When leukemia threatened the life of a St. Louis oncologist, his colleagues came to his aid by putting him under the microscope.
By Jarrett Medlin
Chris Sichra was used to rescuing other people. Then, when he threw out his back, doctors rescued him from chronic pain with a "bag of bones."
By Jeannette Cooperman
By Jeannette Cooperman
By Stefene Russell
Scaling the Summit (Web-Exclusive Extended Version)
Children from across the globe are carried to Shriners Hospitals for Children. When they walk away, some are ready to climb mountains.
By Jeannette Cooperman
Florist Walter Knoll lost half of his thumb—until Saint Louis University Hospital helped him grow it back with an unconventional technique involving pig guts.
By William Powell
By Jeannette Cooperman
A young woman falls dramatically ill. She is terrified, then delusional, then catatonic. There's only one hope left. And the clock's ticking...
By Jeannette Cooperman
By Jarrett Medlin
By Jeannette Cooperman, Nancy McMullen, Jarrett Medlin, William Powell, and Stefene Russell