{"id":27978,"date":"2020-01-16T16:30:00","date_gmt":"2020-01-16T21:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/?p=27978"},"modified":"2020-01-14T17:16:51","modified_gmt":"2020-01-14T22:16:51","slug":"doctors-100th-whipple-procedure-with-lhn-leads-to-patients-courageous-story-on-fight-with-cancer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/doctors-100th-whipple-procedure-with-lhn-leads-to-patients-courageous-story-on-fight-with-cancer\/","title":{"rendered":"Doctor\u2019s 100th Whipple Procedure with LHN Leads to Patient\u2019s Courageous Story on Fight with Cancer"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"
Dr. Neal Agee, MD<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

A cancer diagnosis can be a challenge, both mentally and physically. After hearing the word \u201ccancer,\u201d one patient\u2019s journey led her to Lutheran Hospital and fellowship-trained surgical oncologist, Neal Agee, MD. Dr. Agee performed his 100th Whipple procedure with Lutheran Health Network on this patient, giving her a strong advantage in her fight with this disease. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Robin Eagleson\u2019s story began with a possible cancer diagnosis, which led to an internet search for a surgical oncologist offering complete cancer care paired with the convenience of being close to home. Shortly into her search, the Ohio resident discovered Lutheran Hospital\u2019s surgical oncologist, Neal Agee, MD, and after doing some research, knew this was her answer. \u201cI truly believe I was led to Dr. Agee and his staff,\u201d she stated. \u201cThis was right where I needed to be at this time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pancreatic cancer can be a quiet, inconspicuous form of the disease, generally disguising symptoms in its earliest stages to model other conditions. According to the American Cancer Society, pancreatic cancer diagnoses are on the rise and have recently surpassed breast cancer cases, but there is an answer for patients faced with this difficult diagnosis \u2013 right in Fort Wayne.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

An option for some patients who have been impacted by a possible pancreatic cancer diagnosis is the Whipple procedure. This complex operation removes the head of the pancreas, the first part of the small intestine, the gallbladder and the bile duct and can often result in the return to a state of normalcy for patients who undergo the procedure. Eagleson not only underwent this extensive surgery, she was also Dr. Agee\u2019s 100th Whipple procedure patient with Lutheran Health Network; a milestone which speaks volumes to the complexity of the operation itself and the comprehensive cancer care offered by a team of board-certified specialists at Lutheran Hospital. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe knowledge that the tumor was gone was such a relief,\u201d she stated. \u201cHad he not found it when he did, I might be sharing a different story right now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After undergoing the Whipple procedure, Eagleson and her family know they are headed in the right direction. \u201cI wouldn\u2019t be where I am today without Dr. Agee\u2019s in-depth knowledge; his entire team was everything you could ever ask for and I could not praise them enough,\u201d she stated. To this day, not only has she enjoyed the feeling of normalcy that has resulted from the surgery, she is also feeling mentally and physically great \u2013 and people are taking notice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 \u201cIt was after I received my diagnosis, the staff told me, we are family, we will face this together and will get through it someday, somehow – hearing that gave me everything I needed for this fight.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The \u201cPositively LHN\u201d platform serves to provide mission stories and patient testimonials for each facility in the network. For more stories like this one, visit www.lutheranhealth.net\/positively-lhn.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A cancer diagnosis can be a challenge, both mentally and physically. After hearing the word \u201ccancer,\u201d one patient\u2019s journey led<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":27979,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","nf_dc_page":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[499],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27978","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/100Whipple_NealAgeeMD.jpg?fit=318%2C461&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2YQd9-7hg","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-26 23:03:38","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27978","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27978"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27978\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27979"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27978"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27978"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27978"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}