This September marks the 35th annual National Sickle Cell Awareness Month. Today on the MCV Campus, the Florence Neal Cooper Smith Professorship is an instrument through which donors can directly support continued advancements in treatment and research of the disease, leading to reduced numbers of those who suffer, and hopefully even to a cure.

World Physical Therapy day is Sept. 8, and this week at VCU Health’s Neuroscience, Orthopaedic and Wellness (N.O.W.) Center, patients and therapists shared some of the reasons physical therapy is important in their lives.

In 2016, Jerry Creehan's planned path in life began to veer in an unexpected direction. The turn started with a steadily increasing weakness in his legs, and then he began to fall on occasion. By Aug. 23, Jerry had something to be optimistic about again. That day, he was one of the first three patients in Virginia to receive a new drug for ALS.