Duke Health

At just nine years old, severe headaches and eye pain caused young Brayden Bardonado to spend most days in bed. That changed when Duke Health surgeons identified and corrected the rare cause of his symptoms. Today, Brayden’s pain is gone, and his mother, Deanna Semanoff, sings Duke’s praises. “I have my son back. It's such an incredible feeling,” Brayden’s mom said. “Duke saved my son’s life.”

In September 2025, Louisiana sheriff’s deputy Nick Lege was suffering from heart failure and liver damage when he arrived via medical flight to Duke University Hospital. Two months later, Lege underwent a combined heart-liver transplant, which is only offered at a few hospitals in the Southeast. Today, 46-year-old Lege credits Duke for saving his life. “I am so grateful for the opportunity to go to Duke and get this kind of high-class care,” Lege said. “It means so much to me.”

For nearly 25 years, Juli Brockmann, 58, had debilitating facial pain that brought her once fulfilling life to a grinding halt. Even with powerful medications, Brockmann’s pain kept her mostly bedbound. In September 2025, Brockmann was implanted with a spinal cord stimulator at Duke Health. It quiets the pain signals coming from the damaged facial nerves causing Brockmann’s pain. “I am Juli again,” she said. “I can clean my house. I can take my dog for a walk. I can get up and shower. I never dreamt that I could be this person again.”