Category: News

After more than 22 months at Mayo Clinic Children’s, 13-year-old Ava Weitl went home to Iowa. She and her family were met with tears and cheers as dozens of members from her care team, who are now considered friends of the family, said goodbye and wished her well. 

This was a day Ava had been looking forward to after a long journey with heart failure, two lifesaving extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) therapies, a heart transplant, kidney failure and a kidney transplant. 

Watch: 13-year old Ava Weitl leaves Mayo Clinic Children’s after a 22-month hospital stay

Journalists: Broadcast-quality natsound video is in the downloads at the end of the post. Please courtesy: “Mayo Clinic.”

Born with hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS), a life-threatening condition where the left side of the heart is severely underdeveloped, Ava faced three open-heart surgeries before she would reach her 5th birthday. Within 90 minutes of her birth, her first surgery was performed. Her second surgery was completed months later, but the third, typically required for HLHS patients between the ages of 3 and 4, was not possible due to other medical concerns. 

For a handful of years, Ava’s care team monitored her to see what her body would do. During that time, Ava felt good and was “defying the odds,” as her mom, Christina DeShaw, would say. 

It was in 2021, during third grade, when Ava began to show signs of her heart and lungs struggling. While cardiac catheterization improved the blood flow to her lungs, it was a temporary improvement, and by early 2023, doctors determined a heart transplant was her only option.

Officially listed for a heart transplant in February 2023, Ava’s condition worsened, leading to hospitalization at Mayo Clinic in September 2023. That hospital stay was the start of her long journey of constant monitoring and tests, and it wasn’t easy on her family as they navigated life split between Minnesota and Iowa. 

In December 2023, Ava’s condition took a critical turn. Ava was placed on life-sustaining ECMO, which provides heart and lung support when those organs are failing. Then, Feb. 26, 2024, the call came: a donor heart became available. The surgery was successful, but postoperative challenges arose.

Weeks later, complications with her lungs led to a return to ECMO for three months. She also needed a tracheostomy placed. While trying to save her lungs, her kidney function began to fail, leading to another gift of life — a kidney transplant on Jan. 25, 2025, thanks to a donation from her uncle through a kidney exchange with the National Kidney Registry. 

“She’s a walking miracle,” her mother says. “We can’t even wrap our heads around what she’s been through.”

Ava is excited to be home with her parents, Christina and Brad, her twin brother, Aiden, and her younger brother, Miles. She says she looks forward to hanging out with friends, going back to school and having a barbecue with her family. 

The post (VIDEO) 13-year-old Ava is home with a new heart, kidney following a 22-month hospital stay  appeared first on Mayo Clinic News Network.

DEAR MAYO CLINIC: We have a new fitness facility nearby. The pool schedule shows a number of aqua exercise classes. I’d like to try a water fitness class to add variety to my regular fitness routine, but can I really get a good workout in water?

ANSWER: Regular exercise provides a wide range of benefits, including weight management, improved cardiovascular health and sleep quality. But for many people, common forms of exercise, such as walking, running and weight training, are a struggle due to pain, weakness, mobility issues or fear of falling.

Aquatic exercise is an excellent way to focus on fitness in a gravity-reduced environment. Here’s why:

• Buoyancy. When standing waist-deep in water, buoyancy reduces your body weight by 50%, making this form of exercise very low impact. This significantly reduces the stress on your weight-bearing joints and bones. 
• Support. Water provides support for people with balance problems. The constant movement of water during a workout also challenges a person’s balance. The more waves there are, the harder it is to balance and exercise.
• Resistance. Water’s viscosity slows movement and provides resistance, making aquatic exercise a great, resistance-training workout. With less joint stress, people find they can work out longer and do more repetitions.

All these benefits make water exercise an effective option for anyone recovering from a sports injury to regain range of motion, strength and endurance.   

But these benefits also mean you can get a good, overall workout that improves strength, cardio and flexibility. As with any exercise, check with your healthcare team before starting a new routine. 

Five things to know before jumping into the pool

1. Aquatic exercise is versatile.

Aquatic exercise offers a variety of options and techniques for almost all levels of physical ability. These range from basic, such as walking in the water, to more high-level aerobic activities, such as deep-water running or swimming. 

Standing exercises often are performed in water that’s waist to chest deep, and they typically focus on improving range of motion/flexibility, balance and strength. Resistance training can be amplified by simply increasing the speed and range of movement or adding equipment that increases drag, such as webbed mitts, paddles, noodles or bands.

2. You don’t need to know how to swim.

Having a basic knowledge of swimming or water safety is a good idea for anyone who’s around water, but aquatic exercise doesn’t necessarily involve swimming. The shallow end of any pool or lake will do, since for many of the movements, you only need to be able to stand in the water.

3. Water temperature is important.

Aquatic exercise in lower water temperatures (82-88 F) is generally best for higher-level intensity exercise or people who are prone to overheating, such as those who are pregnant, obese or have multiple sclerosis. Aquatic exercise in warmer temperatures (84-92 F) is better for people with arthritis, fibromyalgia or pain, as well as those who are frail.

4. Be aware of your abilities.

With the increased ease of exercise in water, people often can tolerate longer exercise sessions. As a result, these sessions can be more intense, with larger ranges of motion, which creates the potential of overstressing your body. You may be more fatigued than expected following an aquatic exercise session.

5. Consider group exercises to mix it up.

Group aquatic exercise classes are a great way to socialize, build connections, find support, increase accountability and stay motivated to continue exercising. Classes often are led by instructors who have special training in exercising in an aquatic environment. The instructors are able to offer suggestions for adjusting exercises for individual participants, if needed.

Beyond the basics

Amping up your water workout on your own or in a class may include resistance equipment such as:

• Foam dumbbells. Lightweight on land, they provide resistance underwater through flotation. They come in a variety of resistance options.
• Water weights. Strap-on ankle or wrist weights increase resistance during arm and leg exercises.
• Hand paddles and resistance gloves. They enhance strength training.
• Buoyancy belt. Helps keep your head above water in the deep end while leaving your hands free. You can run, lift weights and do other workouts using your hands without having to tread water.

People often enjoy working out more in water than on land. When they’re not in pain or afraid of falling and are having fun, it encourages them to exercise more consistently. You can even get in a good workout without getting your hair wet.

Kimberly Olsen, Physical Therapy, Mayo Clinic Health System, Mankato, Minnesota

The post Mayo Clinic Q and A: Water fitness — why aqua exercise works wonders appeared first on Mayo Clinic News Network.

In April 2023, CV Rao had just returned from a work trip in Europe when he started experiencing abdominal pain on his right side. His wife, a doctor, recognized that he needed to see his primary care physician for an ultrasound scan. 

When the ultrasound didn’t show anything, CV’s care team ordered a CT scan. The results were alarming — a 7 centimeter tumor, the size of a large peach, was in his liver. 

“It was a shock to the system,” CV recalls. 

The initial diagnosis suggested intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma, a rare and aggressive cancer of the bile ducts.

CV quickly received a PET scan, an MRI and a biopsy at a local hospital which confirmed those suspicions. Within eight days, CV was undergoing chemotherapy to shrink the tumor so he might be eligible for surgery.

After six cycles of chemotherapy, the tumor was reevaluated. The good news was that the cancer was responsive to chemotherapy, and the tumor had shrunk by about 50%. Unfortunately, because the tumor surrounded major blood vessels, local surgeons still deemed it inoperable.

Seeking a second opinion

Determined to explore all options, CV sought a second opinion at Mayo Clinic. 

“I was working on 3D printing investments and kept running into Mayo’s innovative approaches,” he explains. “Everywhere I looked, they had this 3D printing effort where the surgeons were able to visualize what they were operating on using 3D printed organs.”

This led him to believe that Mayo Clinic could offer a solution.

A new hope

Six months after diagnosis, CV and his wife, Madhavi, sat across from Harmeet Malhi, M.B.B.S., a hepatologist at Mayo Clinic in Rochester.

After reviewing his imaging and personalized treatment plan with Dr. Malhi, CV and his wife met with Patrick Starlinger, M.D., Ph.D., a hepatobiliary and pancreas surgeon. 

“Dr. Starlinger looked at me and said, ‘You came to the right place. We can help you with this,'” CV remembers.

All three liver veins appeared to be involved. This type of tumor usually is not removable because there must be at least one vein to drain the liver, according to Dr. Starlinger.

Although CV understood this would be a high-risk procedure, he remembers feeling reassured after speaking with Dr. Starlinger.

“Dr. Starlinger looked at his fellows and said, ‘Would you say this is routine?’ And they all said ‘Yes, it’s a routine surgery for us,'” CV says.

As a native of Austria, Dr. Starlinger explains, “In German, we have a word that means saying ‘yes’ to life, ‘lebensbejahend,’ and that’s how CV approached this. Both CV and his wife had such positive attitudes and a willingness to fight this with all they had.”

CV believes the same can be said of Dr. Starlinger’s approach to his case. 

“The very first day, Dr. Starlinger walked in with a positive attitude, which is one of the things that you realize you absolutely need to get through things like this,” CV says.

Resecting the unresectable

CV’s surgery was scheduled for November 22, 2023, the day before Thanksgiving. 

To prepare for the operation, Dr. Starlinger turned to a 3D printed model of CV’s anatomy, just like the ones that had led CV to Mayo Clinic.

“3D models are incredibly helpful in complex surgical procedures because they allow for optimized surgical planning prior to the actual surgery,” Dr. Starlinger explains.

At 6 a.m. on Nov. 22, CV was taken back to the operating room for the complex, 4.5-hour surgery. 

“We carefully dissected through the liver until we approached the right hepatic vein, which was really the critical portion of CV’s operation,” Dr. Starlinger says. “We had everything prepared to reimplant the only remaining liver vein, but with meticulous precision, using an ultrasound dissection device, we were ultimately able to peel the tumor off the majority of the right hepatic vein and perform a primary repair of the vessel.”

Dr. Starlinger and the surgical team removed roughly 50% of CV’s liver, along with the entire tumor. The surgery was a success.

Experiencing cherished milestones

Nearly two years after his diagnosis, CV is returning to the activities he loved. He has resumed skiing, attended his younger son’s robotics competitions, and even traveled to Switzerland and Austria with his wife. 

“I can’t wait to see my older son graduate and drop him off at college,” he shares with a smile. “We are in a stage of life where a lot of life events are happening. It’s amazing to do these things that are important to the family.”

These moments, once clouded by uncertainty, are now cherished milestones.

Reflecting on his care at Mayo Clinic, CV expresses deep gratitude to the team that provided him with expert and compassionate treatment. 

“The Mayo Clinic staff is beyond what we’ve experienced elsewhere,” he says. “During my seven days in the hospital, we interacted with many nurses, and through changes in shifts, it was just a uniformly amazing experience. Every, every single person we came in touch with was such a positive experience.”

“We wish Dr. Starlinger the longest career possible because the number of lives he has and will save is incredible,” he says. 

Related post:

• (VIDEO) A rare cancer. A rare weapon. Curtis Jackson’s inspiring story of survival

The post Resecting the unresectable: The right place, the right team  appeared first on Mayo Clinic News Network.

ROCHESTER, Minn. — Lake Regional Health System and Mayo Clinic Platform announced that the health system in Osage Beach, Missouri, has joined the Mayo Clinic Care Network, a select group of independent healthcare providers carefully vetted by Mayo Clinic and granted special access to Mayo’s clinical, educational, research and operational knowledge, expertise and resources. 

Lake Regional began collaborating with Mayo Clinic Platform on clinical quality improvement in 2023 and has worked to enhance care delivery standards, particularly focusing on specialty care access and coordination for the unique needs of the Lake of the Ozarks community, including both year-round residents and seasonal visitors.

“This clinical collaboration is a game-changer for our region and a bold step forward in our mission to provide exceptional, world-class care,” says Kevin McRoberts, CEO of Lake Regional Health System. “We are proud of Lake Regional’s quality journey and the remarkable team we have built. Joining Mayo Clinic Care Network gives our talented physicians unprecedented access to leading-edge resources, including additional clinical expertise and innovative treatments. It means our patients can receive the very best care available — right here at home, surrounded by the people and community who matter most.”

Through its proven success in clinical excellence initiatives, Lake Regional has demonstrated its ability to implement and sustain quality improvements across multiple facilities. This foundation enables its healthcare professionals to now integrate Mayo Clinic’s advanced clinical expertise with its established regional healthcare leadership, delivering enhanced outcomes for patients throughout the Lake of the Ozarks region.

“This collaboration demonstrates Lake Regional’s unwavering commitment to continuous quality improvement, and it positions them perfectly to serve their unique patient population with Mayo Clinic-level expertise,” says Mark V. Larson, M.D., medical director, Mayo Clinic Care Network.

Through Lake Regional Health System’s membership in the Mayo Clinic Care Network, its healthcare professionals have access to Mayo Clinic Platform-enabled clinical solutions and services, including:

• AskMayoExpert: A point-of-care tool offering concise clinical information on hundreds of medical conditions, including medical protocols, treatment recommendations and medical references. The database can be used wherever healthcare is provided.
• eConsults: Connections to Mayo Clinic specialists for second opinions on specific patient cases.
• eBoards: Live, scheduled video conferences that enable medical teams at Lake Regional Health System to review and discuss complex cases with a Mayo Clinic multidisciplinary panel and other healthcare professionals in the Mayo Clinic Care Network.
• Healthcare consulting: Access to Mayo Clinic’s extensive experience, knowledge and subspecialty expertise to achieve clinical, operational and business goals.

Staff from Lake Regional Health System can use Mayo Clinic educational materials designed for patients. They also can access opportunities for professional development and continuous medical education.

Lake Regional Health System and other Mayo Clinic Care Network members remain independent and join an ecosystem of more than 60 healthcare organizations around the world.

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About Lake Regional Health System
Lake Regional Health System is a nonprofit organization that provides comprehensive healthcare services to residents and visitors throughout the mid-Missouri region. The hospital is a Level II Stroke Center, Level II STEMI (heart attack) Center and Level III Trauma Center. Lake Regional also provides a wide range of specialties, including cancer care, heart care, orthopedics and women’s health. Plus, Lake Regional operates primary care clinics, Express Care walk-in clinics, rehab therapy clinics, hospice and retail pharmacies. To learn more, visit lakeregional.com.

About Mayo Clinic Platform
Founded on Mayo Clinic’s dedication to patient-centered care, Mayo Clinic Platform enables new knowledge, new solutions and new technologies through collaborations with health technology innovators to create a healthier world. To learn more, visit Mayo Clinic Platform at www.mayoclinicplatform.org.

About Mayo Clinic 
Mayo Clinic is a nonprofit organization committed to innovation in clinical practice, education and research, and providing compassion, expertise and answers to everyone who needs healing. Visit the Mayo Clinic News Network for additional Mayo Clinic news. 

Media contacts:  

• Kaitlin Haar, Mayo Clinic Communications, [email protected]
• Jennifer Bethurem, VP of Public Affairs, Lake Regional Health System, [email protected]

The post Lake Regional Health System in Missouri joins Mayo Clinic Care Network appeared first on Mayo Clinic News Network.

For many cancer patients, treatment can be an isolating and overwhelming journey — marked by fear, fatigue and the constant burden of travel. But what if chemotherapy could be delivered at home? In this episode, we explore the movement to bring cancer care into the comfort of patients’ homes. Could this shift not only ease the experience but also improve outcomes?

This week’s episode of Tomorrow’s Cure features insights from Dr. Roxana Dronca, hematologist, oncologist and director of Mayo Clinic in Florida Comprehensive Cancer Center; and Dr. Arif Kamal, chief patient officer for the American Cancer Society. 

According to the American Cancer Society, someone in the U.S. is diagnosed with cancer every 15 seconds. That staggering statistic drives the urgent push for more patient-centered, accessible care models. But what does that look like in practice?

For Dr. Dronca, this mission is personal — her daughter’s cancer diagnosis revealed just how taxing traditional care can be. Out of that experience came a passionate commitment to transform how and where cancer care is delivered.

“I think cancer care, part of the scariness of it is how unknown it is, how unfamiliar it is in its approach,” said Dr. Kamal. “But what if we could soften it by making components of it actually feel as normal as we can?”

Mayo Clinic’s response: Cancer CARE (Connected Access and Remote Expertise) Beyond Walls, a new model offering expert care outside of hospital walls. The initiative minimizes travel and maximizes access by combining in-home services with a Mayo Clinic-based command center staffed by advanced practice providers, nurses and hospitalists. This team remotely coordinates care, ensuring seamless integration with each patient’s medical history.

“I see that there is no choice every time I speak about Cancer CARE Beyond Walls,” stated Dr. Dronca. 

In today’s world, “Patients live longer, they need more treatments and we have more cancer diagnoses. We’re really being outpaced in our ability to offer treatment to everyone in our physical spaces. So, we either think creatively and design a system where we can get care to more patients and also make the care more patient-friendly, or we build more chemotherapy units.”

At-home cancer care isn’t just a vision — it’s happening now. Join us as we explore this transformative approach to care and what it means for the future of oncology. Listen to the latest episode of Tomorrow’s Cure to learn more. 

Related Articles:

• Is home-based treatment the future of cancer care?
• Transforming cancer care with treatments at home 

The post Tomorrow’s Cure: The future of cancer care is at home appeared first on Mayo Clinic News Network.

Skin allergies are common and often frustrating to diagnose. But new technology could soon help change that.

Dr. Alison Bruce, a dermatologist at Mayo Clinic, is aiding the development of an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered tool to support allergy patch testing. The tool is being designed to help patients self-apply test patches and use their smartphones to capture images over time, with technology offering guidance that could assist clinicians in diagnosis.It’s a promising step toward faster, easier and more accessible skin allergy care, especially for people in rural areas or those with limited access to specialists. 

Watch: The future of skin allergy testing

Journalists: Broadcast-quality video (1:50) is in the downloads at the end of this post. Please courtesy: “Mayo Clinic News Network.” Read the script.

Itchy skin. Swollen patches. A red, angry rash. Skin allergies impact nearly 1 in 5 people.

“That is when a substance comes into contact with the skin and causes a reaction,” says Dr. Bruce.

You may think of poison ivy triggering a reaction, but jewelry, fragrances, lotions and many more substances can cause a skin reaction known as contact dermatitis.

“What happens is the skin just turns red, itchy, flaky, scaly, kind of sometimes becomes fissured, if it’s very severe, kind of becomes so red and inflamed that the skin breaks down and you get little cracks and crevices in the skin,” Dr. Bruce says.

A new tool in development at Mayo Clinic aims to help patients and their healthcare team determine the cause of the reaction. 

“We’ve been working on an AI tool to help with skin allergy testing because in current state, if you suspect that, as a patient or your doctor suspects that, you have allergic contact dermatitis, the way to test for that would be through patch testing,” she says.

But testing can be time-consuming, requiring patients to return to the dermatologist’s office multiple times.

“The idea behind having AI enhance what we’re doing is, if you can imagine a situation where instead of going into your dermatologist, you were able to put the patches on your skin yourself, remove them at a predetermined time and then use your cellphone, use the camera on your cellphone, to image those reactions, and then AI would be potentially able to interpret the reactions to: ‘Yes, there’s a red reaction that corresponds to nickel, and, therefore, you’re allergic to nickel,'” says Dr. Bruce.

She says the new tool can improve the lives of those having skin reactions by making diagnosis more accessible and faster for patients. 

“It can be done remotely. It can be done with imaging, AI interpretation, etc. It really broadens the reach of people who need care that can’t always make it to places like Mayo Clinic,” she adds.

Related posts:

• Tomorrow’s Cure: How AI enhances skin allergy testing
• Mayo Clinic Minute: Atopic dermatitis triggers and treatment

The post (VIDEO) The future of skin allergy testing appeared first on Mayo Clinic News Network.

HAINAN, China and ROCHESTER, Minn. — Mayo Clinic and Leczcore Hainan Mellsser Hospital, a member of the Leczcore Group, have announced that the hospital is the newest member of the Mayo Clinic Care Network. This formal relationship marks an important step in Leczcore’s mission to provide world-class, patient-centered care to communities in Hainan and the surrounding area.

Leczcore Hainan Mellsser Hospital is one of three hospitals operated by Leczcore Group, which also oversees wellness centers dedicated to postoperative recovery and chronic disease management. As a Mayo Clinic Care Network member, Leczcore Hainan Mellsser Hospital gains access to Mayo Clinic’s extensive clinical knowledge and expertise to enhance care.

“Becoming a Mayo Clinic Care Network member is a realization of Leczcore Hainan Mellsser Hospital’s concept of ‘boundaryless medical care,'” says Leczcore President Liu Xiangli. “We have not only introduced advanced medical technology, but more importantly, we are incorporating the patient-first service values ​​of Mayo Clinic, allowing our members to enjoy world-class medical services without having to go abroad.”

Through the Mayo Clinic Care Network, physicians at Leczcore Hainan Mellsser Hospital will have access to tools and services such as AskMayoExpert and eConsults, which enable Leczcore doctors to consult directly with Mayo Clinic specialists when needed. This connection supports Leczcore’s strengths in oncology screening, executive health and chronic disease management, while opening new opportunities for:

• Enhancing clinical standards and operational processes.
• Advancing quality improvement and patient safety initiatives.
• Strengthening nursing leadership, capability and training.
• Expanding patient education and improving overall experience.
• Establishing a trusted care pathway for the most serious and complex cases through direct referrals to Mayo Clinic destination centers in Rochester, Minnesota; Phoenix and Scottsdale, Arizona; and Jacksonville, Florida.

“We are honored to welcome Leczcore Hainan Mellsser Hospital to the Mayo Clinic Care Network,” says Eric Moore, M.D., medical director, Mayo Clinic International, and chair of Head and Neck Surgery at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. “Leczcore Hainan Mellsser Hospital’s focus on advancing preventive care, recovery and chronic condition management aligns closely with our values. We look forward to working together to expand access to high-quality care and deliver meaningful outcomes for patients in Hainan and the surrounding area.”

The Mayo Clinic Care Network includes carefully selected independent organizations worldwide that are committed to working together to improve the quality and value of healthcare. Members retain their independence while benefiting from Mayo Clinic’s decades of experience and best practices.

Through membership in the Mayo Clinic Care Network physicians have access to Mayo Clinic clinical tools and services, including:

AskMayoExpert

• This point-of-care tool offers concise clinical information on hundreds of medical conditions and includes medical protocols, treatment recommendations and medical references. The database can be used wherever healthcare is provided.

eBoards

• These live, scheduled video conferences enable medical teams at member hospitals to review and discuss complex cases with a Mayo Clinic multidisciplinary panel and other doctors in the Mayo Clinic Care Network.

Healthcare Consulting

• Member hospitals have access to Mayo’s extensive experience, knowledge and subspecialty expertise to attain clinical, operational and business goals.

Leczcore Hainan Mellsser Hospital and other members of the Mayo Clinic Care Network remain independent. Created in 2011, the Mayo Clinic Care Network has more than 45 member organizations across the U.S. and in Asia, Europe, Latin America and the Middle East.

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About Leczcore Hainan Mellsser Hospital
 
Hainan Mellsser Hospital is located in Lecheng, Hainan — the only national-level International Medical Tourism Pilot Zone approved by the State Council. It benefits from the exceptional timing advantage of the State Council’s special Nine Policies for Lecheng, the geographic advantage of the Hainan Free Trade Port, and the “human synergy” advantage of bringing together world-class medical experts and elite management professionals.

The hospital features a diverse range of departments, including Health Screening & Imaging, International Medicine, Precision Medicine, Reproductive & Anti-aging Medicine, Customized Anti-aging Services, and Five-Dimensional Cardiac Wellness. With top-tier international medical services, highly precise diagnostic equipment and renowned global medical specialists, Hainan Mellsser Hospital is committed to delivering one-stop, high-quality healthcare services to members both domestically and internationally.

About Mayo Clinic
Mayo Clinic is a nonprofit organization committed to innovation in clinical practice, education and research, and providing compassion, expertise and answers to everyone who needs healing. Visit the Mayo Clinic News Network for additional Mayo Clinic news.

Media contacts:

• Qian Chen, Mellsser Hospital Branding, [email protected]
• Elizabeth Baxter, Mayo Clinic Communications, [email protected]

The post Leczcore Hainan Mellsser Hospital joins Mayo Clinic Care Network appeared first on Mayo Clinic News Network.

DEAR MAYO CLINIC: We just moved to an area with a lot of opportunities for water recreation and are so excited about our first summer on the water. But we want to make sure everyone stays safe. Can you give us some pointers for water safety?

ANSWER: Nothing beats a day at the lake, river, beach or pool for fun, fitness, fishing and relaxation. While spending time on and around the water this summer, these tips can ensure that everyone is safe, has fun and enjoys the time together.

Learn to swim

Every year in the U.S., about 4,000 people die by drowning. Children, men and nonwhite people are at the highest risk. 

Learning to swim is one of the most important ways to stay safe on the water. The American Academy of Pediatrics supports swimming lessons for most children ages 4 and older. Lessons for children ages 1 to 4 could be appropriate, depending on how often they’re exposed to water. Even infants can be introduced to the water. Check to see what classes are available in your area.

Swimmers of all ages may be more familiar with pools than rivers and may not know what to do if caught in a current. Stay calm, float on your back, and when you come to a calmer area, flip over and swim diagonally toward shore with the flow of the current.

Keep these safety tips in mind too:

• Don’t swim alone.
• Supervise children when they’re swimming, and stay close enough to reach out to a child at any time.
• Before diving into a body of water, know the water depth and if there are any underwater obstacles.
• Keep pool gates closed at all times, and consider an alarm to alert you if the gate is opened.

Wear a personal floatation device

Even expert swimmers can get into trouble during an emergency. It’s important to be sure everyone in a watercraft wears a U.S. Coast Guard-approved personal flotation device. While boating or swimming, remember that arm floaties and inflatable toys aren’t a substitute and tend to give kids and families a false sense of security. 

Excellent, comfortable, easy-to-put-on models of personal flotation devices are available, so there’s really no excuse not to wear one.

Stay safe while boating, no matter your craft

One of the most popular and fun activities of summer is spending time on the water. Boating creates lifelong memories and gives us the opportunity to unplug, spend time together, learn new skills and explore new areas. 

Whether your craft is a power boat, fishing boat, pontoon, personal watercraft, canoe or kayak, you should remember these basic safety rules as you head out for a day on the water:

• Be a weather watcher. Summer weather can change quickly. Check the forecast before heading out and check again frequently while on the water. If you do get caught in a storm, navigate to the shore as quickly as possible.
• Tell someone the details of your trip. Tell your trip plan to a friend who’s staying ashore. Share details about who’s on the boat, where you’ll be and how long you’ll be gone.
• Always operate your boat at a safe speed. Waterways can become crowded during the summer. Slow down, stay alert and steer clear of larger vessels. Be sure to follow speed limits in “no wake” areas.
• Respect buoys and other navigational aids. They’ve been put in place to ensure your safety and the safety of other boaters and swimmers. If you’re not familiar with them, the U.S. Coast Guard has a handy water navigation system guide.
• Leave alcohol on shore. The risk of drowning or injury significantly increases when alcohol or drugs are involved. More than 70% of water recreation deaths are related to alcohol use.

Be sun savvy

The sun’s rays can be intense on the open water. Protect everyone with hats, sunglasses and sunscreen. Look for water-resistant, broad-spectrum sunscreen with a sun protection factor (SPF) of at least 30. Apply sunscreen generously and reapply every two hours, or more often if you’re swimming or sweating.

Drink plenty of water

Even when surrounded by water, it’s possible to become dehydrated. Sitting in the sun can increase your body’s temperature. Pack plenty of water for each person, and drink some water every 15 to 20 minutes to remain properly hydrated.

Jason Wray-Raabolle, M.D., Family Medicine, Mayo Clinic Health System, Owatonna, Minnesota

The post Mayo Clinic Q&A: Tips for summer water safety appeared first on Mayo Clinic News Network.

In this week’s Tomorrow’s Cure episode, explore a revolutionary frontier in medicine: the ability to predict disease before symptoms even manifest. Listen to experts at the forefront of medical research who are leveraging cutting-edge technology to potentially make diseases like cancer a thing of the past. 

The podcast episode features insights from Dr. Vijay Shah, Executive Dean of Research at Mayo Clinic; Heidi Dieter, Chief Research Officer at Mayo Clinic and Dwight Diercks, Senior Vice President of Nvidia. Together, they share insights on how predictive medicine could transform healthcare, allowing intervention before illness takes hold.

Until now, most patients have been treated the same—despite the uniqueness of each individual. Experts believe there’s a better path forward. 

“The problem with guidelines is they treat everybody the same and in fact, all of us are different, and we have different risks for different types of diseases,” said Dr. Shah. “Technologies today allow us to integrate multiomics, which is your gene profile, RNA profile, protein profile, and integrate that with the exposures that you have every day.” 

He continued, “That’s why it’s been so hard to predict disease because we have not been able to truly integrate these different types of environmental and genetic factors to make a personalized prediction for one’s health.”

Now, researchers are overcoming these challenges using innovative technologies. Experts are using artificial intelligence to move closer to predicting—and potentially preventing—serious diseases before they develop.

“The data and AI that we’re using is light years ahead of what we knew six months ago. It is iterating so rapidly, it’s hard to keep up with it,” said Dieter. “So, when it takes 17-years to go from a discovery in a lab to a treatment for a patient, and that 17-year curve has not changed in decades. Data and AI is going to rapidly accelerate it.”

And when treatment is necessary, providing individualized treatment is important to improve patient outcomes. While there’s still work to be done, this is the future experts are striving to build. 

“Everybody is different. Every cancer type is different and unique in each individual, said Dwight. “So, figuring out how to apply a cure needs to be different going forward, and it can be with the tools that AI brings to doctors.”

The potential of this technology is transformative—reshaping care models to be more personalized, data-driven, and effective. Listen to the latest episode of Tomorrow’s Cure to learn more. Explore past episodes and featured experts at tomorrowscure.com.

The post Tomorrow’s Cure: Predicting disease with the power of data appeared first on Mayo Clinic News Network.

Fifty-four-year-old Chris Sams of Arizona has been living with coccidioidomycosis, more commonly known as valley fever, for nearly a decade. When his symptoms worsened and standard treatments failed, he turned to Mayo Clinic’s Cocci Clinic in Arizona — one of the few centers in the country that treats the most advanced and complicated cases.

Now, on a more aggressive antifungal treatment, Chris says Mayo Clinic’s multidisciplinary team approach has made all the difference.

Valley fever can be serious, especially when it spreads beyond the lungs. In rare cases, as it did with Chris, the coccidioides infection can reach the brain and cause neurological damage, requiring intensive treatments.

Watch: When valley fever spreads – Meet Chris and his complex case

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“I think I was biking up to 150 miles a week. I was biking quite a bit, lot of wind, lot of sand, lot of dust,” says Chris.

That dust may have carried fungal spores that infected Chris with valley fever — a lung infection caused by breathing in spores that live in the soil but can become airborne.

“I was always sick. I was worn down. I lost a massive amount of weight. And that’s really what threw us over the edge, is that something was going wrong,” he says.

He ended up in the hospital.

“They put me in isolation floor because they didn’t know if I had cancer, tuberculosis or if it was the continuance of valley fever,” he recalls.

Tests confirmed it was valley fever, also known as coccidioidomycosis or cocci. The majority of people who get cocci recover well on their own, but in a small number of people, like Chris, the fungal spores can spread beyond the lungs, causing severe or even life-threatening symptoms.

“Less than 5% of people have it spread outside of the lung. It can go to many different places: bones, soft tissues and potentially the central nervous system. And, unfortunately, while it is a small percentage of people, when it does get into the central nervous system, it causes potentially devastating consequences,” says Dr. Marie Grill, a Mayo Clinic neurologist.

In Chris’ case, the spores had spread to his brain. That’s when he sought help at Mayo Clinic’s Cocci Clinic in Arizona, where a multidisciplinary team of specialists treats the most serious and complex cases of valley fever.

“Now we have on our roadmap. We have a direction on where we’re going — because otherwise, everything is just spiraling out of control,” says Chris.

He began undergoing a special treatment delivered every few weeks right to his brain.

“It’s an antifungal medication which can be delivered intravenously but can also be delivered directly into what we call the intrathecal space, which is essentially directly into the spaces where we have the spinal fluid,” explains Dr. Grill.

The good news is doctors say Chris is showing signs of improvement.

“They think that there is an end in sight and hopefully we will wean off the intrathecal treatments. I mean, we’ve weaned it down to every two weeks,” he says.

Doctors have yet to determine how long the treatments will need to continue, but Chris is confident he’s heading in the right direction, with the right team.

While the Cocci Clinic cares for patients with serious cases of valley fever, Mayo Clinic is also advancing the field with a faster, more accurate test to speed up diagnosis and treatment.

Related post:

• (VIDEO) Faster diagnosis for valley fever: New test in development

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