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Health: mother of an 18-month-old. Joan had multiple surgery,” says Carolyn. “I knew there were only
“I shook for three weeks leading up to the
surgeries near her home in Pittsburgh, but
A Family Affair then the cancer metastasized—and that’s when three outcomes: One, I’d walk out. Two, I’d be
Carolyn called Healthnetwork for the first time. a paraplegic. Or three, I wouldn’t wake up at all.”
The morning of the surgery Carolyn woke up
Carolyn Reichert dreamed of having a big family. with a supernatural sense of peace. “I felt like
Her own birth family was small, just her brother I was going to meet a friend for lunch,” she says.
and parents, and both parents had passed by the “They got her into MD Anderson, “I’ve never felt such calm. I know there is a
time she was in her 30s. Today, at age 82, Carolyn where they worked with her and God.” Her spinal fusion surgery led to outcome
can say her dream came true. She is the proud number one: she walked out.
mother of five—ten if you count her kids’ spouses saved her life.”
(which she does)—grandmother of ten, and A Family Legacy
great-grandmother of five with one on the way. “Healthnetwork has been such a blessing to
With all those precious lives on her family tree, our family,” says Carolyn. “They’ve bent over
Carolyn is happy to be part of Healthnetwork Paul and Carolyn Reichert have been connected “They got her into MD Anderson, where backwards to help my children and I hate to
Foundation’s Family Legacy program, and relieved with Healthnetwork since the very beginning they worked with her and saved her life,” says think where I’d be today if it weren’t for them.
to know her descendants’ health is in good hands. through Paul’s longtime involvement with YPO. Carolyn. “The baby was 18 months when Bill Rowley who started it left a wonderful
this all started, and now she’s 25. Joan is still legacy. Knowing our kids and grandkids are part
with us and doing fine.”
A t last the car was packed. Carolyn busy as it’s ever been—and having arms that Carolyn’s son-in-law Greg, who has been of Healthnetwork through the Family Legacy
The next health crisis came in 2010.
program takes a weight off my shoulders.”
and Paul Reichert spend winters
didn’t work right was starting to be a real
Paul adds, ”YPO brought so many good
in Naples, Florida, and they like to
leave for “home” in Utah before problem. She wanted to see a specialist who dealing with Hodgkin Lymphoma since age things into my life, including Healthnetwork.
could figure out what was wrong and fix it.
the weather gets too hot. They take their time And she knew her quickest way to the best 13, had a new cancer pop up in an area where Our family has benefitted tremendously from
with the trip west, seeing friends and family specialist would be a phone call she had radiation had been done for the lymphoma. their referrals to the best specialists, and we are
along the way over two or three weeks. In the made numerous times over the years: to “We called Healthnetwork and bless their glad to give back to support the worthy work
spring of 2020 just as they were getting on Healthnetwork Foundation. hearts, they got us into Mayo Clinic within two they are doing.” ✦
the road, Carolyn noticed a strange feeling in days,” says Carolyn. “Greg has been with Mayo
her left arm. “There was pain below my bicep ever since. So far so good.”
and I couldn’t reach up to get something over “Then in 2020,” she says, “I guess it was
my head.” Throughout the trip, she could feel “We called Healthnetwork and bless my turn.”
the sensation traveling up her arm, across their hearts, they got us into Mayo Three Possible Outcomes
the clavicle, and over to her right arm. By the Clinic within two days.”
time they arrived in Utah, her left arm felt As a teenager Carolyn was involved in a car
better but her right arm was painful and had accident. “I broke a steering wheel in half with
restricted motion—and it stayed that way my face.” In her early 60s she tripped on an
for six months. For the Children uneven sidewalk, “did a pike into the street,”
Carolyn went to see her doctor in Utah and thought she’d broken her neck. Everything
and did physical therapy over the summer, Carolyn’s husband, Paul, was involved with turned out to be okay, so she thought. “But
but things did not improve. Back in Florida YPO and WPO for many years, and he always then in 2020 everything came back to bite me.”
the following autumn, she started going to knew about Healthnetwork as one of the Those injuries to her spine led to
specialists. It was a disappointing experience. benefits for members. While he never needed degeneration over the years. The pain and
“It felt like I knew more than they did,” she a medical referral for anything major for mobility issues in her arms were a warning
says. “I had to show one of them on the MRI himself, Paul and Carolyn were relieved to sign that something was terribly wrong.
where to look.” have access to Healthnetwork when various Healthnetwork referred Carolyn to Dr. Ali
Besides being concerned about her arms, family members needed help over the years. Bydon, a neurosurgeon at Johns Hopkins,
Carolyn felt frustrated by all the non-answers In the 90s, Carolyn’s daughter-in-law Joan who explained that her discs were severely
she was getting. At 82 years old, Carolyn received a diagnosis of adrenal carcinoma compressed in several places and were The Reichert family takes advantage of a season
knows she’s at the age when people tend to and was given two years to live—devastating affecting her spinal cord. She was at risk of of good health to enjoy a multi-generational
slow down. But she feels like her life is as news for anyone, but even more so for the new becoming paralyzed. snowmobiling trip.

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