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Edward T. Creagan, M.D.
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Edward T. Creagan, M.D.
Edward T. Creagan, M.D.
"The magic of the electronic village is transforming health information. The mouse and keyboard have extended the stethoscope to the 500 million people now online." - Dr. Edward Creagan
The power of the medium inspires Dr. Edward Creagan as he searches for ways to share Mayo Clinic's vast resources with the general public.
Dr. Creagan, a Newark, N.J., native, is board certified in internal medicine, medical oncology, and hospice medicine and palliative care. He has been with Mayo Clinic since 1973 and in 1999 was president of the staff of Mayo Clinic. Dr. Creagan, a professor of medical oncology at Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, was honored in 1995 with the John and Roma Rouse Professor of Humanism in Medicine Award and in 1992 with the Distinguished Mayo Clinician Award, Mayo's highest recognition. He has been recognized with the American Cancer Society Professorship of Clinical Oncology.
He describes his areas of special interest as "wellness as a bio-psycho-social-spiritual-financial model" and fitness, mind-body connection, aging and burnout.
Dr. Creagan has been an associate medical editor with Mayo Clinic's Web sites and has edited publications and CD-ROMs and reviewed articles.
"We the team of (the Web site) provide reliable, easy-to-understand health and wellness information so that each of us can have productive, meaningful lives," he says.
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Stress blog
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Dec. 2, 2008
Teen's inspirational story hits home
By Edward T. Creagan, M.D.
Your suggestions on the issue of sleep were wonderful. Many of us are now recognizing that sleep deprivation only magnifies the struggles and the stresses that each of us deal with every day.
But, we also heard another dimension of survival: In order for us to go the distance during these perilous times, each of us needs to control what we can and acknowledge and recognize that there are some events out of our control. Let me explain.
I recently had the marvelous opportunity of speaking at a patient and family symposium on the issue of medical care in the 21st century. I was preceded in the program by a 17-year-old woman who was inspirational as she shared her story with the audience.
At age 13, she was an athletic, acrobatic ballet prodigy. She was a young woman with gifts and skills that captured the attention of the athletic and theatrical community. But then disaster struck. A vague ache in the right knee was soon diagnosed as a highly virulent aggressive bone tumor and one of the treatment options was amputation.
An unthinkable dilemma in such a gifted young woman. She shared with the audience that she had a choice at age 13: curl up under the covers and give up, or do everything she could to deal with this medical challenge. With faith, tenacity, and perseverance far in excess of age 13, she survived. With surgical skills and chemotherapy, amputation was not necessary and she enthralled the audience with her theatrical performance.
So, what is the message? For me and my family sitting in the audience, it was very clear: Let us control things we can such as attitude and our perception of world issues, and acknowledge that there are some situations for which we have no control and we need to let go and move through each day with a sense of peace, hope and serenity.
What perspectives do you have on this inspirational story?
6 comments posted
December 9, 2008 3:28 p.m.
whenever you think you have control,life will prove you otherwise, the only thing we have as attitude, thanks for remaining us that life is unpredictible and is all on our part to make the best of it.
- e
December 7, 2008 10:09 a.m.
I just want to say how much I enjoy your humanity, kindness and wisdom. Thank you for communicating these hopeful messages and reminding us to nurture our personal relationships and our attitudes toward ourselves.
- Ann
December 3, 2008 1:35 a.m.
Oh I remember that feeling well - my daughter also had a bone tumor in her leg at age 13. Having worked in an anatomical pathology laboratory, I knew what the outcome could be - but thank the Lord, her tumor proved to be benign. I am so pleased to hear that this young girl survived and had such a positive attitude in the face of such adversity! That's amazing.
- Jewel
December 3, 2008 12:54 a.m.
I had a university degee (math, econ) but was working as a carpenter. On a Monday morning I got careless and cut off 3 fingers on my right hand. I made it turning point in my life, during 2 years of surgery and rehab I went back to school and studied electronics. 15 years later, at age 50, I retired and now live comfortably in Bali. I made that accident a positive segment in my life.
- Mike
December 2, 2008 4:11 p.m.
Attitude is key, as is focusing on the positive - what you do have vs. what you do not. What role does our society play in this? The focus on more-bigger-better, profit is all, get the latest gadget...Are there ways we can encourage slowing down this rush?
- Susan
December 2, 2008 11:31 a.m.
This is a wonderful and inspirational story. It reminds me somewhat of a gifted young soccer-playing relative who was diagnosed with leukemia, but who has since recovered. At her 16th birthday party she had lost her hair, but was having fun wearing wigs. Although she could not attend school for stretches of time, she graduated high school with honors. As soon as she got medical clearance, she went back to playing soccer tournaments and is now in college. Having a close-knit family and a sense of priorities probably helped her through. But I think most of all she kept a positive, disciplined attitude, that she would do her part in bringing about her own recovery. She didn't expect anyone else to solve her problems, but she had faith and tenacity. On a more general level, I think most of us think we control more around us than we actually do--the so-called illusion of control. On the other hand, things we can actually control, such as framing issues and emotional states, we sometimes let get away from us. If we more clearly learn to recognize what we really have control over and what we don't, we may be better able to actively cope as the need arises.
- Alan
6 comments posted