QMG Stories

Finding Meaning After Cancer: Sharla's Story

Shar­la H. noticed a change dur­ing a rou­tine self-exam in Decem­ber 2019, lead­ing to a breast can­cer diag­no­sis the fol­low­ing month. She began treat­ment, com­plet­ing chemother­a­py and a dou­ble mas­tec­to­my with sup­port from the care team at Quin­cy Med­ical Group. Now in sur­vivor­ship, she reflects on how the expe­ri­ence reshaped her per­spec­tive on life, fam­i­ly, and time, and what it means to move for­ward after cancer.

A Father’s Example, A Son’s Path in Medicine

Titus P. is con­tin­u­ing a fam­i­ly tra­di­tion in health­care, inspired by his father, Dr. Todd Pet­ty, gen­er­al sur­geon at Quin­cy Med­ical Group (QMG). This sum­mer, he’s gain­ing hands-on expe­ri­ence as a med­ical assis­tant intern at QMG, where he’s work­ing direct­ly with patients and care teams. The expe­ri­ence reflects both his grow­ing pas­sion for med­i­cine and the last­ing influ­ence of his father’s example.

Two Siblings, One Shared Mission to Improve Lives

Dr. Michael K. Ouwen­ga Schol­ar­ship recip­i­ents Logan and Mor­gan Zanger are turn­ing their pas­sion for help­ing oth­ers into mean­ing­ful careers. Logan is pur­su­ing a future in school psy­chol­o­gy and neu­rode­vel­op­men­tal eval­u­a­tions, while Mor­gan is on a pre-med track with plans to become a gyne­col­o­gist and researcher in wom­en’s health. Both cred­it the schol­ar­ship with pro­vid­ing the sup­port and oppor­tu­ni­ties need­ed to pur­sue their goals and make a dif­fer­ence in the lives of others.

An Unbelievable Change: Back to Living Without Pain

After months of wors­en­ing pain that she believed was relat­ed to her hip, Janet dis­cov­ered the true cause was in her low­er back, includ­ing a com­pres­sion frac­ture iden­ti­fied through imag­ing. After being referred to QMG Ortho­pe­dic Spine Sur­geon Dr. Philip Mein­hardt, she under­went surgery that quick­ly brought sig­nif­i­cant relief. Today, she is back to dai­ly activ­i­ties she once strug­gled with and describes her recov­ery as ​“an unbe­liev­able change.”

Side by Side in the Moments That Matter

For Andrew and Shel­by H., team­work doesn’t end when the work­day does. As hus­band and wife and fel­low reg­is­tered nurs­es at QMG’s Ambu­la­to­ry Surgery Cen­ter, they share a deep under­stand­ing of what it means to show up for oth­ers. From nurs­ing school study part­ners to nav­i­gat­ing life’s biggest chal­lenges togeth­er, dis­cov­er how this duo brings that same ded­i­ca­tion to the oper­at­ing room every day.

QMG Birth Center: A Birth Story Rewritten

Emi­ly R. is no stranger to the deliv­ery room, but her fourth preg­nan­cy became an oppor­tu­ni­ty to do things dif­fer­ent­ly. Seek­ing a calmer, low-inter­ven­tion birth expe­ri­ence, she trans­ferred her care to the QMG Birth Cen­ter after it opened clos­er to home. There, she found a sup­port­ive envi­ron­ment that allowed her to trust the nat­ur­al process of labor while feel­ing safe, respect­ed, and cared for through­out her journey.