The Health Beat images in this photo gallery represent the top 50 stories that captured your attention and touched your soul. Bearing witness to such courage, compassion and commitment is truly an honor.
Peter Dankelson was born with a rare congenital defect that involves incomplete facial development. A recent groundbreaking surgery aligned his features and opened his airway. (Chris Clark | Spectrum Health Beat)
A fetal-maternal hemorrhage caused Aubrey Vronko's blood to leak through the placenta, but her mother's instincts and the skills of doctors saved both baby's and mother's lives. (Taylor Ballek | Spectrum Health Beat)
Tim Hoffman, a paramedic with AMR ambulance service in Holland, Michigan, is still recovering from the severe injuries he suffered when his ambulance was hit head-on by a drunk driver. (Chris Clark | Spectrum Health Beat)
Elliot has made great strides with physical therapy and continues to grow. "We never thought the day would come," Nick said. "But we are happy to finally have our son home." (Taylor Ballek | Spectrum Health Beat)
Todd Alward said he was ready to go to heaven. Since his diagnosis in 2013, ALS robbed Todd of his dignity, his muscles, his breathing and soon, he feared, his speech. (Chris Clark | Spectrum Health Beat)
The good days outweigh the sad days for Thomas Sikkema. "It's amazing how these years can completely change their lives," he says. "I could be happy here for life." (Taylor Ballek | Spectrum Health Beat)
Lucille Whitcomb and her family have been plagued by an inherited cardiac condition. "We now know my brother has had it, my father has had it." (Taylor Ballek | Spectrum Health Beat)
Hayden Pavlovic was born with two rare chromosomal disorders and he just might be the first of his kind. (Taylor Ballek | Spectrum Health Beat)
Three years after Elizabeth Pratt was diagnosed with breast cancer, doctors discovered her son, Grant, would have to battle leukemia. They battle together. (Taylor Ballek | Spectrum Health Beat)
Emmy Rickert was diagnosed with breast cancer at 24. Her biggest fear was not dying, but that she might never have children. (Chris Clark | Spectrum Health Beat)
Alfonso Guerra got help to go home to Nicaragua for his final days in hospice care. "It is very important to me," he said. (Chris Clark | Spectrum Health Beat)
Kathryn Dotas is wrapped in a warm hug by her mother, Julie Starnes. Memories, good and bad, come back as the mother-daughter team relive moments. (Chris Clark | Spectrum Health Beat)
Doctors discovered that Brianna Laux had an arteriovenous malformation, commonly called an AVM. The rare condition occurs in one in 200 to 300 people. (Chris Clark | Spectrum Health Beat)
Five years ago, when Mary Chittle was 7 years old, her racing heart stopped beating. Her team of doctors agree that her survival is an absolute miracle. (Chris Clark | Spectrum Health Beat)
Dave Siegers will become one of the first Americans to try Radicava, a new drug for treating ALS. The FDA has not approved a drug to treat ALS in more than 20 years. (Chris Clark | Spectrum Health Beat)
David and Christina Dehen surround their son, Gabriel, with love. Gabe is suffering from a rare and fatal X chromosome mutation in his PIGA gene. (Chris Clark | Spectrum Health Beat)
On the happiest day of her life, Kierstynn Foster Rozema chose to visit the place where she fought and survived leukemia as a teenager. (Chris Clark | Spectrum Health Beat)
Greg and Sally Brown have been married for 33 years. She is worried about him, and his cancer diagnosis. He is worried about her, with a more recent cancer diagnosis of her own. (Taylor Ballek | Spectrum Health Beat)
Shelby Lentz, a contender for the next Miss Michigan title, has goals beyond pageant crowns. She is using her platform to spread awareness about Huntington's disease. (Chris Clark | Spectrum Health Beat)
Nate Davis managed to walk out of the rodeo arena after being thrown by a bull. When he saw his worried mother's face, he grabbed her hand. Then his vision went dark. (Chris Clark | Spectrum Health Beat)
Tim and Roxanne Scheidel have raised four children in their Casnovia, Michigan, farmhouse. Their tight-knit family is helping Tim battle glioblastoma. (Chris Clark | Spectrum Health Beat)
Amanda and Tim Van Horssen spent years dealing with the frustrations of infertility—and then they had seven children within six years. (Taylor Ballek | Spectrum Health Beat)
Corinne Bass, 18, missed many milestones during her senior year of high school due to aplastic anemia, including her senior prom. But the hospital threw her a special prom. (Taylor Ballek | Spectrum Health Beat)
Lily-Mae Morrison was the 32nd child enrolled in a phase 2 clinical trial testing whether a drug called DFMO could prevent relapse of neuroblastoma. (Chris Clark | Spectrum Health Beat)
Veteran firefighter Phil Hunderman says he knew something wasn't right. His instincts correctly led him to schedule a colonoscopy. (Chris Clark | Spectrum Health Beat)
Anna Weeber holds her 3-week-old son, Hudson, in her arms. Anna had an aneurysm at 25 weeks pregnant. (Taylor Ballek | Spectrum Health Beat)
Jeremiah Nelson was born with myelomeningocele, the most serious form of spina bifida. "He's been through a lot," his dad, Stacy, said, "and yet he's a real positive little guy." (Chris Clark | Spectrum Health Beat)
Karyn Wolschleger went to the ER for back and stomach pain. A tumor the size of a golf ball grew on her pancreas. She had pancreatic cancer. (Taylor Ballek | Spectrum Health Beat)
Alex Podell was born seven weeks premature with an unforeseen diagnosis of Down syndrome. (Taylor Ballek | Spectrum Health Beat)
Raihlynn Voss is a happy 4-year-old despite the heart problems, kidney disease and skeletal dysplasia. (Chris Clark | Spectrum Health Beat)
Brenda Tuttle could not figure out why she was having trouble catching her breath. "Any time I'd walk any kind of distance, I'd be like, 'I have to sit down and catch my breath.'" (Chris Clark | Spectrum Health Beat)
Zahrah Resh is an ArtPrize artist and a cancer survivor. Her entry in this year's international art competition was called "Hope, Heal, Soar." (Chris Clark | Spectrum Health Beat)
Linda Ball was six miles from home when a deer crashed through her windshield. She suffered head and neck injuries, fractured ribs, a fractured cheekbone and a dislocated left wrist. (Chris Clark | Spectrum Health Beat)
Gloria Koch, 87, is the matriarch to a sprawling clan that 4 children and 37 grand, great-grand and great-great grandchildren. Her hospice team made sure she enjoyed her family tradition. (Taylor Ballek | Spectrum Health Beat)
When she was 8 years old, LeAnn Ouwinga became one of the first 250 open heart surgeries ever performed in the United States. (Chris Clark | Spectrum Health Beat)
Camden Cardona has a rare genetic condition called tuberous sclerosis complex. It causes benign tumors to form in organs throughout his body. (Chris Clark | Spectrum Health Beat)
At about the time she turned 20, Keren Gordon gave birth to her first baby—a boy. She'll take care of her baby, work full time and go to school. (Chris Clark | Spectrum Health Beat)
Nine-year-old Addison Post has oculoectodermal syndrome. Her skin, eyes, bones and digestive system are affected. (Chris Clark | Spectrum Health Beat)
A week or two after Avaree Hunt's birth, a small red mark appeared on her cheek. Lauren and Seth Hunt learned their daughter had a hemangioma. (Chris Clark | Spectrum Health Beat)
"I think God is definitely using my story and things I've been through to help people in some small way,"
said a woman who survived cancer. (Taylor Ballek | Spectrum Health Beat)
Madison Pflug has received two bone marrow transplants to fight leukemia. The second transplant, from her mom, Amy, appears to have provided the cure. (Chris Clark | Spectrum Health Beat)
Lizz Grams, right, treasures her relationship with Spectrum Health music therapist Erin Wegener. "Erin always makes me cry," Lizz said. "In a good way." (Chris Clark | Spectrum Health Beat)
These images document Jonathan's most recent surgical journey. He has endured nearly 30 operations―including surgery to repair his cleft palate, to create an ear, and to put a shunt in his brain. (Chris Clark | Spectrum Health Beat)
Rima Shah, 41, is a doctor of internal medicine at Spectrum Health's Academic Medical Associates. She has overcome bias in her practice and daily life. (Taylor Ballek | Spectrum Health Beat)
Dan Smith battled diverticulosis and had a portion of his colon removed. Then doctors discovered he had a fistula, an abnormal connection between two organs. (Chris Clark | Spectrum Health Beat)
Isaiah Lunsford holds the 3-D replica of his heart. The model helped doctors at Spectrum Health Helen DeVos Children's Hospital repair Isaiah's unique heart defects. (Chris Clark | Spectrum Health Beat)
Scott Kovacs is feeling better than he has in a long time. A left ventricular assist device, or LVAD, and a successful heart transplant saved his life. (Chris Clark | Spectrum Health Beat)
Hannah Webb and her husband, Travis, had their first child, a baby girl, on March 11. Hannah was born with congenital heart disease and needed surgery when she was 10 months old. (Chris Clark | Spectrum Health Beat)
Peter Cramer, 23, woke up out of a sound sleep with a pain on his right side. Cramer planned to tough it out, but a friend convinced him to call MedNow. (Taylor Ballek | Spectrum Health Beat)
The Wilkins family has three generations of nurses, starting with Mary Lou Wilkins, 86, who started working as an OB nurse at Blodgett Hospital in the 1950s. (Taylor Ballek | Spectrum Health Beat)
Our lives change in an instant. With one medical test, the screeching of car tires, or a stroke.
Whether it’s a diagnosis or a sudden health catastrophe, we find ourselves in an alternate reality where the battle for life itself becomes the only thing that matters.
It is in this place where we find a compassionate and skilled team dedicated to helping us fight for our futures. And where we seem to gain insight, strength and wisdom that transcends anything we’ve ever known. Sometimes there is sadness, sometimes tears of joy.
Through it all, Health Beat is there to document these incredible journeys. Together, we are connecting people to the care they need and changing lives for the better.
And you, our dear readers, chose the best of the best stories of 2017 by accompanying us on these journeys, sharing Health Beat’s stories with friends and family, and cheering on our brave mothers, fathers, daughters and sons.
We give thanks to you all for allowing us to be part of your lives. We are truly honored.
Do you have a story to share? Tell us about it. Thanks to all of our Health Beat readers for making Health Beat such a success in its first three years. If you haven’t already, please subscribe to our weekly and monthly email and bookmark us on your desktop or cell phone so you can stay up to date on all the great health news you can use.
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