When my son, Ford, came home from his freshman year at Davidson College, we had no idea how much our lives were about to change. What started as a simple headache quickly escalated into blurred vision, emergency room visits, and eventually, the diagnosis of a rare pineal brain tumor.
It was the most difficult time of our lives—endless doctor visits and long hospital stays for chemo, radiation, labs, and imaging. But the amazing doctors and staff at Dell Children’s and MD Anderson produced a miracle, and I’m incredibly grateful to say that Ford is now 10-years cancer-free!
But there were two parts of our journey that were inexplicably difficult:
1 – None of Ford’s doctors had the full picture of his conditions or care, and it showed.
2 – We didn’t have the medical knowledge to ask the right questions or understand the implications of the decisions we were asked to make.
Our journey began in 2013, eighteen years after the Internet revolution, but suddenly we found ourselves thrown back in time, hand carrying faxes and CDs from doctor to doctor.
We spent our nights researching on Google and WebMD. They were full of general information, but they couldn’t provide personalized guidance based on Ford’s specific tumor, medical conditions, medications, age, gender, etc.
At the time, I assumed the national investment in Electronic Health Records and Exchanges would help, but I was wrong. It’s been ten years and very little has changed. We’re still stuck with faxes and CDs for sharing and Google and WebMD for guidance.
That is why I decided to build the world’s first Digital Health Bank.
Today, after many years of hard work by the unstoppable team at AllClear ID, I’m excited to announce that Health Bank One is officially launching. To learn more, go to www.HealthBankOne.com and get yourself unblocked!
