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Cali Horton, a 21-year-old student from Blue Springs, was a survivor from day one.

Her mother, Heather Horton, was pregnant with twins and diagnosed with twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome—uneven blood flow between twins sharing a placenta. Both twins, Cali and her sister Kara, were born prematurely and spent three weeks in Saint Luke’s neonatal intensive care unit.

As a result, Cali suffered from a rare vascular malformation of the brain, which required radiation treatment at age 2. Over time, the treatment fully cured her malformation.

Just before his 60th birthday, Joe VonHolt was lunching with his wife, Bev, when he had a bout of what he thought was indigestion. The retired mechanic had suffered from acid reflux for 20 years, but the pain in his chest was getting worse. It used to occur only when he exerted himself. Now it was nearly constant. The two prescriptions and nearly 30 antacids he took daily weren’t helping.