Anna’s Story
My name is Anna Nyarady, and my story with Richmond Hospital begins more than 30 years ago when I joined the board of the Richmond Hospital Foundation. I wanted to give back to the health care system in any way that I could, so I was pleased to join this board and to be able to help.
Back then we worked on many fundraising opportunities and I was part of the Richmond Hospital Foundation board team that helped to share patient stories like mine and to showcase what a talented group of health care professionals we have in Richmond.
Today, I work in Richmond and I have many wonderful friends and deep connections here in this community, so ensuring that this hospital is the best it can be matters to me even more. That’s why I hope my story will resonate with you.
We will all be touched by illness or injury at some point in our lives, whether it affects us or our loved ones. We’re all vulnerable, so it’s vital that we have leading-edge treatment and care close to home, when we need it most.
“I like to think of a hospital as a beacon of hope. When you go in, you have hope that you will be treated properly and you will recover. Richmond Hospital is the reason I’m alive today!” – Anna
I know that local health care matters to all of us.
Today I hope you’ll support remarkable care that gives our doctors and nurses the support they need to do their best work.
I can tell you firsthand just how remarkable that care is, because I became a patient at Richmond Hospital in 2015. Talk about coming full circle.
It started when a friend of mine was ill with late stage colon cancer. As she described the symptoms she’d mistaken for stress, I realized with terrible foreboding that I was experiencing the very same issues.
I acted quickly but more importantly so did Richmond Hospital. Even though I felt scared, I knew immediately that Richmond Hospital was there for me. I can’t tell you how grateful I am for the skilled team that looked after me. They recognized how serious my situation was and they took action quickly to start the medical treatment required. I would like to mention Dr. Fishman here as well because he was the one that took the quick action.
When it became clear after a colonoscopy that I had colon cancer and needed surgery to remove part of my colon, I knew I was in the expert hands of Dr. Nam Nguyen, an extremely talented general surgeon at Richmond Hospital. Even though I was scared, he explained everything carefully and assuredly. His care and compassion left me confident that surgery was going to be successful and I would be OK.
My personal outcome came down to one important thing – Richmond Hospital set me up for success by catching my cancer right away.
Had they not scheduled me for the surgery as quickly as they did, I wouldn’t be here today. The cancer would have spread outside of the bowel wall. Instead, Dr. Nguyen’s surgical expertise allowed me to recover quickly and retain normal functions we all hope for after such invasive surgery.
I want you to be as proud of Richmond Hospital as I am, because from the doctors to the nurses and everyone else that works there, they care about their patients and you matter to all of them. And, you can feel it when you receive care here.
And when you know people are on your side and fighting for you, you fight harder.
We are all in this together and together we can achieve more for this great community hospital. Let’s be proud of our hospital because it will be there for us when and if we need it. Let’s show our support in whatever way we can, be it big or small, so that we can ensure that it will continue to deliver the very best of health care for us.
Sincerely,
Anna Nyarady
Grateful patient
P.S. I’m cancer free today. Richmond Hospital gave me that fighting chance – and so did you. Without that help, I’d be a statistic today. Your support is irreplaceable. Thank you!
