{"id":3483,"date":"2018-05-06T14:28:16","date_gmt":"2018-05-06T19:28:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.osfhealthcare.org\/blog\/?p=3483"},"modified":"2022-04-22T08:43:40","modified_gmt":"2022-04-22T13:43:40","slug":"george-and-thelma-friemann-survivors-prostate-and-breast-cancers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/george-and-thelma-friemann-survivors-prostate-and-breast-cancers\/","title":{"rendered":"Couple with cancer trust care close to home"},"content":{"rendered":"

George and Thelma Friemann, of Bunker Hill, have been through a lot in their 55 years of marriage. Through kids, career changes and retirement, the couple thought they had been through it all.<\/p>\n

But in December of 2016, at the age of 74, George discovered he had prostate cancer. His Prostate Specific Antigen<\/a> (PSA) scores had continued to rise and a biopsy revealed the hidden disease. He didn\u2019t want to travel to St. Louis for treatment, so he turned to Dr. James Piephoff<\/a>, radiation oncologist with the Cancer Center of Excellence at OSF HealthCare Saint Anthony\u2019s Health Center<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven doctors in St. Louis recommend people on this side of the river to come here for treatments,\u201d George said. \u201cDr. Piephoff and the staff are wonderful. You can get treatments at a lot of different places, but the people are what make the difference.\u201d<\/p>\n

In April of 2017, after 44 radiation treatments, tests showed that George was cancer free. But cancer wasn\u2019t done with the Friemanns yet.<\/p>\n

In October 2017, a routine mammogram revealed a lesion on Thelma\u2019s left breast. She had her biopsy and surgery in Springfield, Illinois, but chose to return to Dr. Piephoff for her radiation treatments.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy doctor wanted me to have treatments in Springfield, but I told them I was going to Dr. Piephoff,\u201d Thelma said. \u201cDr. Piephoff explained how each stage was going to go before I had anything done.\u201d<\/p>\n

After 31 radiation treatments, Thelma rang the bell to signify the end of her treatments.<\/p>\n

Placing it in the Lord\u2019s hands<\/h2>\n

\u201cIt has been a crazy couple of years. But I have a high faith in the Lord, and He has been with both of us,\u201d Thelma said. \u201cWe were fortunate to come down here because the service was outstanding.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t say enough about the people. They are accommodating and friendly. They will go out of their way to help you,\u201d George said. \u201cIt was a lot easier for Thelma because she knew she could come here and be in good hands.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

George and Thelma Friemann, of Bunker Hill, have been through a lot in their 55 years of marriage. Through kids, career changes and retirement, the couple thought they had been through it all. But in December of 2016, at the age of 74, George discovered he had prostate cancer. His Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA) scores […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":3534,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[101,223],"tags":[386,660,796,794],"coauthors":[687],"class_list":["post-3483","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cancer","category-patient-story","tag-breast-cancer","tag-osf-saint-anthonys","tag-prostate-cancer","tag-radiation"],"yoast_head":"\nBunker Hill couple diagnosed with cancer trusts care close to home<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Through 55 years of marriage, George and Thelma Friemann, of Bunker Hill, have experienced a lot together, but battling cancer wasn't one they were expecting.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/george-and-thelma-friemann-survivors-prostate-and-breast-cancers\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Couple with cancer trusts care close to home\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Through 55 years of marriage, George and Thelma Friemann, of Bunker Hill, have experienced a lot together, but battling cancer wasn't one they were expecting.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/george-and-thelma-friemann-survivors-prostate-and-breast-cancers\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"OSF HealthCare Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/osfhealthcare\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-05-06T19:28:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-04-22T13:43:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Friemann-Bell-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"630\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"David Pruitt\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Couple with cancer trusts care close to home\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"Through 55 years of marriage, George and Thelma Friemann, of Bunker Hill, have experienced a lot together, but battling cancer wasn't one they were expecting.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.osfhealthcare.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Friemann-Bell-1.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@osfhealthcare\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@osfhealthcare\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"David Pruitt\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/george-and-thelma-friemann-survivors-prostate-and-breast-cancers\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/george-and-thelma-friemann-survivors-prostate-and-breast-cancers\/\",\"name\":\"Bunker Hill couple diagnosed with cancer trusts care close to home\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/george-and-thelma-friemann-survivors-prostate-and-breast-cancers\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/george-and-thelma-friemann-survivors-prostate-and-breast-cancers\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Friemann-Bell-1.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-05-06T19:28:16+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-04-22T13:43:40+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/958ed81be889316c3d5c0abf8ef74f88\"},\"description\":\"Through 55 years of marriage, George and Thelma Friemann, of Bunker Hill, have experienced a lot together, but battling cancer wasn't one they were expecting.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/george-and-thelma-friemann-survivors-prostate-and-breast-cancers\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/george-and-thelma-friemann-survivors-prostate-and-breast-cancers\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/george-and-thelma-friemann-survivors-prostate-and-breast-cancers\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Friemann-Bell-1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Friemann-Bell-1.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":630},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/george-and-thelma-friemann-survivors-prostate-and-breast-cancers\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Couple with cancer trust care close to home\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"OSF HealthCare Blog\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/958ed81be889316c3d5c0abf8ef74f88\",\"name\":\"David Pruitt\",\"description\":\"David Pruitt is a writer for the Marketing & Communications division of OSF HealthCare. He has a bachelor\u2019s of journalism from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville and worked as a reporter before joining OSF HealthCare in 2014. An avid golfer and fisherman, David was born and raised Alton, Illinois, which is where he currently resides with his son, James.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/author\/dpruitt\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Bunker Hill couple diagnosed with cancer trusts care close to home","description":"Through 55 years of marriage, George and Thelma Friemann, of Bunker Hill, have experienced a lot together, but battling cancer wasn't one they were expecting.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/george-and-thelma-friemann-survivors-prostate-and-breast-cancers\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Couple with cancer trusts care close to home","og_description":"Through 55 years of marriage, George and Thelma Friemann, of Bunker Hill, have experienced a lot together, but battling cancer wasn't one they were expecting.","og_url":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/george-and-thelma-friemann-survivors-prostate-and-breast-cancers\/","og_site_name":"OSF HealthCare Blog","article_publisher":"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/osfhealthcare","article_published_time":"2018-05-06T19:28:16+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-04-22T13:43:40+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":630,"url":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Friemann-Bell-1.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"David Pruitt","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_title":"Couple with cancer trusts care close to home","twitter_description":"Through 55 years of marriage, George and Thelma Friemann, of Bunker Hill, have experienced a lot together, but battling cancer wasn't one they were expecting.","twitter_image":"https:\/\/www.osfhealthcare.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Friemann-Bell-1.jpg","twitter_creator":"@osfhealthcare","twitter_site":"@osfhealthcare","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"David Pruitt","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/george-and-thelma-friemann-survivors-prostate-and-breast-cancers\/","url":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/george-and-thelma-friemann-survivors-prostate-and-breast-cancers\/","name":"Bunker Hill couple diagnosed with cancer trusts care close to home","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/george-and-thelma-friemann-survivors-prostate-and-breast-cancers\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/george-and-thelma-friemann-survivors-prostate-and-breast-cancers\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Friemann-Bell-1.jpg","datePublished":"2018-05-06T19:28:16+00:00","dateModified":"2022-04-22T13:43:40+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/958ed81be889316c3d5c0abf8ef74f88"},"description":"Through 55 years of marriage, George and Thelma Friemann, of Bunker Hill, have experienced a lot together, but battling cancer wasn't one they were expecting.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/george-and-thelma-friemann-survivors-prostate-and-breast-cancers\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/george-and-thelma-friemann-survivors-prostate-and-breast-cancers\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/george-and-thelma-friemann-survivors-prostate-and-breast-cancers\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Friemann-Bell-1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Friemann-Bell-1.jpg","width":1200,"height":630},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/george-and-thelma-friemann-survivors-prostate-and-breast-cancers\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Couple with cancer trust care close to home"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/","name":"OSF HealthCare Blog","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/958ed81be889316c3d5c0abf8ef74f88","name":"David Pruitt","description":"David Pruitt is a writer for the Marketing & Communications division of OSF HealthCare. He has a bachelor\u2019s of journalism from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville and worked as a reporter before joining OSF HealthCare in 2014. An avid golfer and fisherman, David was born and raised Alton, Illinois, which is where he currently resides with his son, James.","url":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/author\/dpruitt\/"}]}},"modified_by":"Maisey Link","featured_image_url":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Friemann-Bell-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3483","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3483"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3483\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3537,"href":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3483\/revisions\/3537"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3534"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3483"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3483"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3483"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=3483"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}