Medical treatment close to home

MaryAnn Fredrick was alone at work when the phone rang at 3 p.m. It was her doctor.

As executive director of the St. Paul (Neb.) Chamber of Commerce, she had been typing board meeting minutes on that bitterly cold Wednesday in February.

MaryAnn Fredrick is grateful to have had access to clinical trials close to her central Nebraska home. Here, she meets with medical oncologist Mehmet Copur, M.D., at Grand Island’s Saint Francis Cancer Treatment Center.

Suddenly, she found herself overwhelmed by medical lingo about treatments, side effects and prognosis for a rare type of invasive breast cancer. “I was scared to death.”

She shared the news with her two grown daughters, worried about how treatments would disrupt her work and life and sought second and third opinions in search of the best care.

She found it just 25 miles away at Grand Island’s Saint Francis Cancer Treatment Center.

Read a story from the latest edition of UNMC Connect about a first-of-its-kind program that allows the UNMC Eppley Cancer Center to work with hospitals across Nebraska, including Saint Francis, to bring clinical trials to patients such as Fredrick, in their own communities.