La’Trena, a 39-year-old Brentwood, Tenn. resident, was in her early 30s when she started feeling achy, tired and lethargic. Normally energetic, active and healthy, this was cause for alarm. After visits to sevral hospitals, Dr. Thompson with Sarah Cannon Cancer Institute at TriStar Centennial in Nashville, Tenn. asked the right questions to determine her diagnosis: blood cancer.

No one in La’Trena’s family had a history of cancer, so when she was referred to an oncologist, she thought the physician would just confirm what she had already been told, that her symptoms were the lingering side effects of a bad case of the flu. This seemed to be just another visit with another doctor. When she was diagnosed correctly, Dr. Thompson and her entire care team treated her with compassion and care, just like family, which made the cancer journey a little easier to travel.