Army Veteran Donna Holman (left) was thrilled to reunite with her Houston VA breast radiologist, Dr. Mahdieh Parizi, at a Breast Cancer Survivor Celebration.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\nAir Force Veteran Belinda Miller and her husband, Joe, also shared their story at the cancer survivor celebration. Living in Galveston, Texas, Belinda had no prior history of cancer and had consistently received normal mammograms until she was diagnosed during the COVID-19 pandemic. Her diagnosis came at a particularly eerie time, marked by quiet streets and uncertainty. On her 60th birthday, Belinda faced surgery, a moment she said was made lighter by the Houston VA surgical staff who gathered by her bedside before her procedure to sing Happy Birthday. \u201cThat simple gesture made me believe there was kindness and hope in the world,\u201d she shared, visibly moved.<\/p>\n
Miller underwent 18 months of treatment at VA and expressed immense gratitude for the care she received. \u201cVA staff were heroes for my family when I was fighting cancer, and they are still heroes today,\u201d she said. \u201cDr. Parizi is awesome. She is so great that I find myself looking forward to seeing her at my yearly mammograms and catching up with her.\u201d<\/p>\n
A husband\u2019s perspective<\/h2>\n
Joe Miller, her husband, also spoke to the crowd at the breast cancer event, sharing his initial apprehensions about entrusting his wife\u2019s care to VA during the pandemic. \u201cI was very nervous, but I found the staff to be delightful,\u201d he said. Joe was actively involved in his wife\u2019s care, attending every meeting and phone call, and appreciated being included as part of the team. \u201cI felt like I was part of the process, and I can\u2019t tell you how much that meant to me,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Dr. Mahdieh Parizi addressed the crowd at the celebration, emphasizing the profound honor she feels working with Veterans at VA. \u201cIn breast radiology, we have the privilege of walking alongside patients during the most challenging of times,\u201d she said.\u00a0\u201cI get to witness their strength and courage. I never forget that behind every biopsy is a Veteran\u2026 a human being who served our country and deserves world class health care.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dr. Parizi reaffirmed VA\u2019s commitment to early detection and support for women Veterans, ensuring they receive the care they need every step of the way.<\/p>\n
After the event concluded, many of the Veteran breast cancer survivors in attendance stood around talking and laughing, sharing their stories and exchanging phone numbers with other Veterans.\u00a0\u201cHaving cancer can make you feel alone,\u201d Holman said.\u00a0\u201cConnecting with other Veterans and knowing that VA is in my corner has been life-changing.\u201d \u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Strength and resilience of Veterans in face of adversity The strength and resilience of Veterans who have faced the challenges of breast cancer were on display at the Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center at the hospital\u2019s annual October breast cancer survivor celebration.\u00a0Among the Veterans in attendance was Donna Holman, an Army Veteran who served […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":720376,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[393,5,1267],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-720374","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-breast-cancer","category-health","category-visn-16"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/720374","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=720374"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/720374\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":720383,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/720374\/revisions\/720383"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/720376"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=720374"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=720374"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=720374"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![<\/a>Army Veteran Donna Holman (left) was thrilled to reunite with her Houston VA breast radiologist, Dr. Mahdieh Parizi, at a Breast Cancer Survivor Celebration.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\nAir Force Veteran Belinda Miller and her husband, Joe, also shared their story at the cancer survivor celebration. Living in Galveston, Texas, Belinda had no prior history of cancer and had consistently received normal mammograms until she was diagnosed during the COVID-19 pandemic. Her diagnosis came at a particularly eerie time, marked by quiet streets and uncertainty. On her 60th birthday, Belinda faced surgery, a moment she said was made lighter by the Houston VA surgical staff who gathered by her bedside before her procedure to sing Happy Birthday. \u201cThat simple gesture made me believe there was kindness and hope in the world,\u201d she shared, visibly moved.<\/p>\nMiller underwent 18 months of treatment at VA and expressed immense gratitude for the care she received. \u201cVA staff were heroes for my family when I was fighting cancer, and they are still heroes today,\u201d she said. \u201cDr. Parizi is awesome. She is so great that I find myself looking forward to seeing her at my yearly mammograms and catching up with her.\u201d<\/p>\nA husband\u2019s perspective<\/h2>\nJoe Miller, her husband, also spoke to the crowd at the breast cancer event, sharing his initial apprehensions about entrusting his wife\u2019s care to VA during the pandemic. \u201cI was very nervous, but I found the staff to be delightful,\u201d he said. Joe was actively involved in his wife\u2019s care, attending every meeting and phone call, and appreciated being included as part of the team. \u201cI felt like I was part of the process, and I can\u2019t tell you how much that meant to me,\u201d he added.<\/p>\nDr. Mahdieh Parizi addressed the crowd at the celebration, emphasizing the profound honor she feels working with Veterans at VA. \u201cIn breast radiology, we have the privilege of walking alongside patients during the most challenging of times,\u201d she said.\u00a0\u201cI get to witness their strength and courage. I never forget that behind every biopsy is a Veteran\u2026 a human being who served our country and deserves world class health care.\u201d<\/p>\nDr. Parizi reaffirmed VA\u2019s commitment to early detection and support for women Veterans, ensuring they receive the care they need every step of the way.<\/p>\nAfter the event concluded, many of the Veteran breast cancer survivors in attendance stood around talking and laughing, sharing their stories and exchanging phone numbers with other Veterans.\u00a0\u201cHaving cancer can make you feel alone,\u201d Holman said.\u00a0\u201cConnecting with other Veterans and knowing that VA is in my corner has been life-changing.\u201d \u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Strength and resilience of Veterans in face of adversity The strength and resilience of Veterans who have faced the challenges of breast cancer were on display at the Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center at the hospital\u2019s annual October breast cancer survivor celebration.\u00a0Among the Veterans in attendance was Donna Holman, an Army Veteran who served […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":720376,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[393,5,1267],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-720374","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-breast-cancer","category-health","category-visn-16"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/720374","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=720374"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/720374\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":720383,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/720374\/revisions\/720383"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/720376"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=720374"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=720374"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=720374"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}](\"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/holman-and-Parizi2_r1-5.jpg\"){kind=link}