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Building on basics

Mind – Body – Spirit

Joe Lynn's transformation from carefree junior high school student to cancer patient began innocently enough one Halloween five years ago. Dressed as a werewolf, he had made the rounds of his Carson City, Nevada, neighborhood, returning home with a sack heavy with sweet treats. But he couldn't eat a one. His jaw hurt too much.

It wasn't the first time Ann and Jerry Lynn's 13-year-old son had complained of pain. Besides problems chewing, his jaw sometimes slipped out of place.

They took him to their pediatrician, a dentist, an orthodontist, and an otolaryngologist (a specialist in ear, nose and throat disorders). Nothing helped.

"As long as I can remember, my jaw was different," says Joe, now 17. "We knew something was wrong, but we didn't know what."

"Our pediatrician put him on antibiotics, but he said it was very unusual for a child to have that much fluid in his ears," recalls his mother, Ann.

In the meantime, Joe was getting worse. His jaw was sore all the time. He had chronic earaches and had started to complain of hearing loss.


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Supporting Cancer Center
UC Davis Cancer CenterUC Davis Health System

When Joe Lynn developed rhabdomy-
osarcoma, doctors treated his body while pediatric specialists treated his soul.