Imagine suddenly having difficulty breathing. Then imagine getting lost in your own neighborhood or driving and forgetting where you are going. Imagine that your vision starts to fail, and you are unable to talk without stuttering. Imagine confusion, nausea and losing your balance and falling down

Then imagine that this is not simply imagination. Imagine that it is real. Terrifying.

That was the story of Ruby Jones, a Nashville resident whose health problems were only made clear after she was admitted to Nash General Hospital with hypoglycemia.---a condition that occurs when the pancreas, an organ located in the abdomen, produces too much insulin, which leads to low blood sugar.

While there are several causes for hypoglycemia, the characteristics of Ruby’s hypoglycemia were rare. Between June 28 and July 19. Jones’s blood sugar dropped dangerously low on several occasions. Doctors suspected early on that her condition was due to a rare tumor. The entire time, Ruby’s husband, Michael, grew more and more concerned as he watched his wife’s condition. It took time to get the results for the special testes needed for diagnosis.

“It was so hard,” she said. “You’re trying to be a wife and who you are supposed to be. It was so frightening. It was indescribable. When you’re in the hospital for that 12th day…it was very frightening for me. It was very frightening for my family.”

Jones didn’t have to travel far from her supportive family and friends---she sought help at Nash Health Care Systems, proving that “big-city” medicine and world class care is available in Rocky Mount.

Through the entire ordeal, Ruby Jones and her family refused to give up. She was in good company, because the physicians who worked on her case --- Dr. David Seaman, a surgeon; Dr. Daniel Crocker, oncologist and Dr. Guy MacClang who specializes in internal medicine---also refused to give up. The doctors ran scans, sonograms and ordered biopsies, looking for answers.

But answers aren’t always easy to find.

Signs pointed toward a possible tumor that was causing extreme fatigue, soreness, low blood sugar, confusion and many of the other symptoms Ruby Jones had experienced. But the tumor could be anywhere in her body---it was like finding the proverbial needle in the haystack.

With assistance from the dedicated teamwork of health care professionals and physicians—including radiologist Dr. Allen Johnson--- Ruby Jones was informed that she had an insulinoma---a pancreatic tumor that causes too much insulin to be produced.

They also informed her that she was a one in a million patient---well, maybe more like one in 750,000.

Insulinomas are exceedingly rare, and Dr. Seaman estimates that they are only found in about 1 out of 750,000 patients.

“Insulinomas are not seen very often,” he said. “It’s something that is also difficult to pinpoint—it deals with the challenge of how to find a tumor that may be only a half-inch thick when it could be located almost anywhere in the body.”

Even hospitals that specialize in this area of treatment may only see one insulinoma every 5 to 10 years, and it is because the insulinomas are so rare that they are so incredibly difficult to diagnose and locate. These tumors are generally benign, and not cancerous.

Jones’s tumor was hidden inside her pancreas. After it was removed, her life dramatically changed.

“I am feeling so much better, now. I just thank God for these doctors,” Jones said. “Dr. Seaman and the others—they just refused to give up. Dr. Crocker and Dr. MacClang did so much for me. I feel they need to be recognized. I just thank God for them.”

Dr. Crocker said, “This case demonstrates what can happen at Nash General Hospital with coordination between internists, radiologists and surgeons. I think it’s wonderful that we were able to treat Mrs. Jones locally. This was a very rare type of tumor, and we were able to identify, locate and treat it. That speaks volumes for the quality of health care that is offered by Nash Health Care Systems and its medical staff.”

Dr. Seaman concurred, “Whenever we can take care of someone here, in their own community, that is a wonderful thing.”

For Michael and Ruby Jones, this was much more than a missing piece of a puzzle, it was much more than a medical rarity; the diagnosis meant they could get their life back.

“We could have gone to a bigger hospital, but we are so pleased with the people and the service at Nash Health Care Systems,” Michael Jones said. “Dr. Crocker came to see her every day. We are so thankful.”

“I am so thankful to the Lord for all of them,” Ruby said. “I received excellent care.”