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Bedside Stories

Bedside Stories

By Bedside Stories

What’s the best true story you’ve ever heard? Award-winning Bedside Stories highlights captivating and emotionally compelling personal experiences that take place behind the scenes in health care. These short but unforgettable episodes bring listeners up close to a variety of inspiring successes, unexpected challenges and incredible moments with patients, medical staff and volunteers.

Narrator Corey Schubert has dedicated his career to storytelling. He’s a public relations senior specialist for Banner Health, one of the largest nonprofit health care systems in the country.
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Episode 4: A Lifetime of Good Karma

Bedside StoriesNov 26, 2018

00:00
14:50
Episode 17: Weird Science

Episode 17: Weird Science

Forty-three-year-old Nicole DiCamillo of Arizona has stage 4 cancer – and she feels absolutely the best and happiest she’s been in years. If that sounds odd and unexpected, we’re just getting started in this episode on the strange, fascinating world of radiation treatment and nuclear medicine.

Aug 17, 202118:11
Episode 16: Robot Cookies

Episode 16: Robot Cookies

When Janice Cmeyla sought help for difficulty breathing, she had no idea that would involve a “three-armed surgeon” – or that major breakthroughs in new technology would save her months of treatment and recovery.

Apr 23, 202112:31
Episode 15: Let Them Know

Episode 15: Let Them Know

A hospice music therapist and a 37-year-old Phoenix woman with terminal cancer spent four months creating deeply personal music, as a legacy for the patient to leave her family. One of the powerful songs features her heartbeat as a rhythmic part of the track.

Jan 27, 202116:50
Episode 14: Her Greatest Strength

Episode 14: Her Greatest Strength

Deanna Spizzirri’s diagnosis with one of the most severe cases of Tourette’s syndrome didn’t stop her from becoming an elementary school teacher, and helping other patients learn to manage their tics and enjoy life. She shares her highs and lows with us, and we speak to a Banner doctor who has Tourette’s and treats patients with the disorder.

Nov 24, 202024:45
Episode 13: The Flashlight Option

Episode 13: The Flashlight Option

Patient Kim Alten’s annual mammogram led to an option to have genetic testing for cancer, which can help determine whether someone – and their family – has a higher risk of developing certain cancers, and passing some genetic disorders to their children. We spoke with Kim and our experts to learn more. 

(Episode was recorded in February 2020.)

Jun 15, 202020:19
Episode 12: The Speed Bump

Episode 12: The Speed Bump

Thirteen-year-old Ben Zaccardi took a ride around the block on his dirt bike that ended with him hurling into a cinder block wall, demolishing his body. But his story has a happy ending, as thousands of people have cheered on the upbeat boy through every milestone of his unexpected recovery.

May 05, 202015:13
Episode 11: Universal Ouch

Episode 11: Universal Ouch

For 15 years, physician assistant Tara Burns has been quietly helping to change lives for hundreds of people in undeveloped areas around the world. She recently returned from her 30th humanitarian mission, offering free surgical care to families in need. We asked her to share some of her most memorable moments.

NOTE: Tara attended PA school; narration mentions her having attended medical school, where physicians and surgeons are trained.

Apr 07, 202016:03
Bonus Episode: Hope on the Frontlines

Bonus Episode: Hope on the Frontlines

An interview with nurse Kaitlin Nicholas about her ongoing experience treating potential coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients at Banner Casa Grande Medical Center. She may be “beat up from the feet up” tired, but she and her dedicated colleagues remain fueled by positive energy and a passion for saving lives.

Mar 26, 202012:20
Episode 10: Living Backwards

Episode 10: Living Backwards

Ten-year-old Peyton Gonzalez is like any other kid her age, but she’s also literally one in a million -- a survivor of an extremely rare cancer that required a 10-hour surgery that was spellbinding in complexity and drama. The experience made Peyton wise beyond her years. (Happy birthday to her, by the way!)

Mar 10, 202014:20
Episode 9: One Good Deed

Episode 9: One Good Deed

As we wrap up our first season of inspiring and dramatic stories, we’re checking in on many of the memorable patients, medical staff and volunteers who shared their memorable experiences throughout the past year. Quite a bit has happened since we met them!

Jul 30, 201907:38
Episode 8: Moving the Curtain

Episode 8: Moving the Curtain

Hospital chaplains Timothy and Stephanie Burdick visit some of Banner Health’s most critical patients every Sunday. Sometimes, those patients don’t realize they’ve just held hands with two people who’ve learned to embrace life through a hardship of their own: Both Timothy and Stephanie have been blind since they were infants. 

May 22, 201916:27
Episode 7: Changing the Timeline

Episode 7: Changing the Timeline

Bernice Campbell has seen many family members impacted by Alzheimer’s disease, so now this 57-year-old grandmother is doing her part to help researchers and medical experts before we lose thousands more people in another generation. But some ethnic cultures remain skeptical about taking part in research, which presents a real issue in finding a cure. 

Apr 29, 201921:49
Episode 6: The Right One

Episode 6: The Right One

Patient Anita Allen had no idea how much of her life was about to change when a nice fellow named Sam appeared in the doorway of her treatment room. That set in motion another major moment intertwining the lives of the two widowers with the hospital in ways neither could have expected. 

Feb 11, 201914:35
Episode 5: Survival Mode

Episode 5: Survival Mode

Sixty-year-old John Waddell shares his experience of being trapped alone for more than 48 hours in a dark mine-shaft in the Arizona desert, 100 feet down, surrounded by rattlesnakes.
Dec 12, 201813:25
Episode 4: A Lifetime of Good Karma

Episode 4: A Lifetime of Good Karma

Just when you think you’ve heard it all, 72-year-old nurse Betty Schley comes along to share some wild and unexpected stories from her lifelong career in healthcare.
Nov 26, 201814:50
Episode 3: Who is Dr. Bear?

Episode 3: Who is Dr. Bear?

Meet a real-life superhero: Selima Martin, a 23-year-old who transports young patients for treatment at Banner Children's at Cardon Children’s Medical Center. Selima has a developmental disorder called Asperger syndrome, and more importantly, she has a secret identity that is helping kids feel better. Learn more in this short podcast story.
Sep 24, 201813:03
Episode 2: The Best Worst Day of My Life

Episode 2: The Best Worst Day of My Life

A 34-year-old woman speaks candidly about an experience as deeply personal as it gets: the time she died. On Valentine’s Day this year, she and her infant daughter survived an experience that’s hard to even imagine. Darcy had a heart attack while giving birth, and she’s here with her healthy family to tell the story.
Sep 13, 201809:58
Episode 1: Escaping the Jungle

Episode 1: Escaping the Jungle

Decades ago, Reverend Ibraham (John) Sabbagh helped save his son Ebby’s life when he was shot as a youth during the Lebanese Civil War. Now, Ebby is repaying his 88-year-old dad by donating his own stem cells for a special transplant to fight leukemia. That’s not the only heartwarming part of this story that will give you the chills.
Sep 06, 201811:52