Before, I had only barely remembered amyloidosis by a brief mention in lectures, but this session really illustrated how the disease could severely impact someone’s life. Furthermore, I appreciated the patient’s narrative details, as she highlighted important considerations when delivering patient care that are often overlooked by healthcare professionals, such as basic empathy and compassion. I think the brief video at the beginning was a good illustration of the disease, as I had forgotten many of the details, and our lectures did not cover many of the specifics.

There’s no more memorable way to learn the signs of a disease than hearing directly from a patient about their story living with it. This was a great opportunity to learn about an under-recognized disease that gets relatively little exposure in medical school curriculum. Elizabeth’s story was powerful and honest, revealing ways that the medical community can do a much better job recognizing Amyloidosis and caring for patients living with it.  

The speaker’s ability to put a face and experience behind a disease is so much stronger than a textbook will ever be. I will now be much more likely to appropriately add amyloidosis to a differential diagnosis moving forward in my clinical rotations and career.  

As medical students we often only get the textbook definition of so many diseases, and when we read over the symptoms and treatments we merely just memorize and pass them over.  Mackenzie’s Mission brings so much more than just the textbook definition of Amyloidosis. It brings the emotion, the struggle, pain, frustration, things that we don’t see on paper. This is so important for us as future physicians to see and hear, because this disease is not just a question on the test it is somebody’s life. And, it truly reminded me of why I am here. More medical students need to hear this!   

This was absolutely an informative and helpful experience for me as a medical student. I would argue there are not enough opportunities for preclinical students to hear directly from patients, and having such a wonderful speaker take us through her entire health journey was quite valuable. I genuinely feel like I’ve started some trains of thought on how to better serve patients with complex diseases that I will be able to continue in the future, regardless of if I treat patients with amyloidosis specifically or not.   

THIS is what medical schools should invest more time in.

Our school’s curriculum is organized by different organ systems, so I often think that multi-system diseases, such as amyloidosis, aren’t presented as clearly as other diseases only affecting one organ system. I learned so much about the complexity and severity of amyloidosis because of this presentation and I think hearing Beth’s story really helped me to understand why this disease often goes undiagnosed. Hearing her journey will remind me to advocate for my future patients with amyloidosis and other complex, incurable diseases.  

This presentation was eye-opening and valuable for me as a student to realize how many times doctors had missed the opportunity to further investigate the patient’s symptoms. Not only did I learn about amyloidosis from a patient perspective, but the speaker’s story illustrated the importance of really supporting and listening to my future patients, to never dismiss their concerns, and to keep investigating when I don’t have the answers.