SEBRING — Beverly Bostick makes her living taking care of the severely handicapped among other kids at her Avon Park foster home, but it's still hectic for her when one of her own children qualify for the extra help. Her son Troy, 25, has had multiple kidney failures, cerebral palsy, autism and chronic pneumonia. He goes around with a bladder bag attached to his right leg that holds his urine. His mom also had to install a special air filter for their air conditioning for him. He can walk, but he communicates only through screams, moans and gestures. ...more

June 30, 2008

The man whose parents' battle to save him from a nerve disease was portrayed in the movie "Lorenzo's Oil" died Friday at his home in Virginia, having lived more than 20 years longer than doctors had predicted. ...more

May 31, 2008

Hannah Ryan's medical nightmare began after a softball game nearly two years ago. ...more

May 30, 2008

If anyone was "lovin' it" at the McDonald's that Jean Merola visited Thursday evening, it certainly wasn't her. ...more

January 20, 2008

If anyone was "lovin' it!" at the McDonald's that Jean Merola visited Thursday evening, it certainly wasn't her. The 75-year-old grandmother of eight was arrested for disorderly conduct after she refused a police officer's orders to move her car while she waited for the coffee and fries she ordered at the drive-through window. "Isn't that terrible?'' she said from her Clearwater home Saturday. "Oh my goodness, here I am, a poor little innocent woman waiting for my French fries.'' ...more

January 19, 2008

Sharon Carter, the woman known as the motivator behind the small Seffner Chamber of Commerce, died Dec. 28. She had been suffering from pneumonia. ...more

January 7, 2008

SEBRING — Charles P. Cooper already made up his resolution for 2008, and it seemed pretty routine as far as resolutions go. "I only put in my mouth what my wife says I can," the "semi-retired" 67-year-old auto transmission shop owner promised himself. What led to that resolution was not a weight problem or even just the diabetes he was diagnosed with earlier this year. After the cascade of unexpected health problems he had since July, Cooper said his wife was just happy to have him around for Christmas. It went downhill since July, when he said he was diagnosed with diabetes and high cholesterol in one doctor's visit while getting blood work for his angina. In September, doctors determined he needed a quadruple bypass surgery, and that wasn't the end of it. ...more

December 31, 2007

Care And Commitment Thank you for speaking out about a serious shortcoming in the health care system. Plenty of us have similar experiences. ...more

December 30, 2007

Improper use of patches that emit the painkiller fentanyl is still killing people, the government said Friday - its second warning in two years about the powerful narcotic. ...more

December 22, 2007

Firefighters waited in the hospital's hallways, the campfire smell of their last call still heavy on their turnout gear. Word had spread quickly among the Buffalo department's ranks. Donny Herbert wasn't doing well. ...more

December 16, 2007