ValerieCare: Spine surgery success at Wellstar North Fulton Hospital

At Wellstar, every patient’s care plan is tailored to their needs. When it comes to head and neck cancers, a team of expert specialists form an interdisciplinary care team that supports the patient and their family through the whole treatment process.

In Wellstar STAT Clinics—short for Specialty Teams and Treatments—patients can see multiple cancer specialists to be diagnosed, have questions answered and finalize a treatment plan in a single day at one location. This reduces the need to drive to different locations and helps the patient start treatment faster.

“The concept of multidisciplinary care is tried and true and shown to be effective for cancer patients,” said Dr. Fiyin Sokoya, a Wellstar head and neck cancer surgeon. “This model decreases the time to proceed with and receive care.”

First, a team of medical experts, including a head and neck cancer surgeon and facial plastic surgeon, a radiation oncologist, a medical oncologist, a pathologist and a neuroradiologist, review the patient’s pathology and imaging as a group to diagnose, stage and create a personalized treatment plan.

Next, the patient and their family meet with the experts. This is an opportunity for the patient to learn about the recommended treatments and ask questions.

“Traditionally, patients must drive to several different appointments to learn the stage of their cancer, meet with different specialists and make decisions,” said Wellstar Medical Oncologist Dr. Nagender Mankan. “At that point, four to five weeks have gone by. In STAT Clinics, we are expediting the complicated decision-making process.”

The patient also meets with a nurse navigator. This specialized nurse helps coordinate many aspects of care for the patient including scheduling appointments and connecting patients with support team members, such as a registered dietitian, a speech therapist or a dentist who may help relieve irritation in the mouth and throat.

While Wellstar is well-equipped to help you fight head and neck cancers, there are steps you can take to prevent cancer from forming, including limiting exposure to the sun and cutting out tobacco and alcohol. Your Wellstar care team can work with you on a plan to keep your head and neck healthy and set achievable goals to prevent cancer.

Learn more about head and neck cancer care at Wellstar.

Like most seniors, Ja’Quan Hart was very much looking forward to going off to college in the summer of 2023.

The Thomson, Ga., resident had just graduated high school and as a linebacker and tight end, helped lead his Thomson High School Bulldogs to win the Class AA State Championship.

“I had these big tackles, and I caught like an 89-yeard interception pass,” he said. “That was like my best game. We won state!”

Ja’Quan’s talent and skill on the football field—and his love of the game—earned him the opportunity to play for the University of Kansas with a full scholarship.

Unfortunately, life had other plans.

Amid packing for school and booking his flights, Ja’Quan learned from a routine sports physical that he had an irregularity in his heart that could be life-threatening.

That irregularity turned out to be a leaky aortic valve—and an abrupt end to his aspirations of a college football career.

“Blood was flowing back into my heart. It wasn’t going all the way through,” Ja’Quan explained.

In a healthy heart, leaflets between the left and right ventricles open to allow blood to flow through the heart one way and then close fully to keep blood from flowing back into the heart. In a condition like Ja’Quan’s, the leaflets do not close all the way and blood does leak back into the heart.

For most people the treatment for a leaky aortic valve involves a valve replacement. But a valve replacement now will often require another replacement surgery at some point in the future, and probably more than one, said Dr. Brian Bateson, a pediatric cardiothoracic surgeon and co-director of the adult congenital heart program at Wellstar MCG Health Medical Center. The younger the patient, the more potential surgeries the patient will need to have to replace the valves when they wear out.

Because Ja’Quan had not yet reached 20 years of age at the time of his care, a valve replacement would mean multiple surgeries over the course of his life.

The solution is a new device called the HAART ring that is affixed to the support structure of the aortic valve. This stabilizes the valve and allows for further repair of the leaflets themselves, meaning the valve can close properly and prevent leakage.

“If you’re using Ja’Quan’s own valve, keeping it in place and it functions, potentially he wouldn’t need another procedure again in his life because it’s still his own tissue. It’s not going to break down. Any prosthetic valve, whether it’s mechanical, bio-prosthetic will fail over time,” Dr. Bateson said. “Nothing’s better than what you’re born with.”

The HAART device is ideal for a young patient like Ja’Quan, but would also be a good treatment option for any person—pediatric or adult—with the same condition.

Ja’Quan spent three days in the hospital recovering from his surgery. Since, he has been slowly increasing his cardiovascular activity, such as walking, and following up with Dr. Bateson for regular checkups, who said he has been recovering very well.

Ja’Quan said he plans to continue to play sports, but will need to be more selective about the sports he can play.

“I play basketball. I just won’t be playing contact sports (like football),” he said.

Though he said it was disappointing to have to change direction as far as playing college football is concerned, Ja’Quan hasn’t let it dampen his spirit. Instead of college football, he is now exploring the possibility of driving trucks with the intention of going into business for himself—as long as it isn’t too strenuous for his heart.

“I’m not going to give up. I’m going to regroup and keep going and find another path to being successful in life,” he said.

Presiding over weddings is one way that the Reverend Michael Teston, ThM, gives back to his community after retiring as a full-time pastor.



One recent wedding was quite different than the rest. It was with heartfelt pride that the pastor looked on as the groom—the man Michael credits with saving his life—said his vows.

“Fiyin, do you take Courtnee to be your lawfully wedded wife?” Michael asked his head and neck cancer specialist.

“I do,” Dr. Fiyin Sokoya replied, standing happily as his former patient—now friend, spiritual advisor and premarital counselor—joined him with his wife in holy matrimony.

Compassionate expertise follows an unexpected diagnosis

A few years earlier, an unexpected diagnosis brought the two men together as they formed a bond that exceeded the typical doctor-patient relationship.

It began when Michael noticed a knot in his left cheek. He thought he had an infected lymph node so he went to an ear, nose and throat (ENT) doctor to get it checked out. The prognosis was that the knot was likely non-cancerous, but worth getting removed because it was growing rapidly and increased the risk for cancer. The clergyman was referred to Dr. Fiyin Sokoya, a head and neck cancer specialist and facial plastic surgeon at Wellstar North Fulton Medical Center.

Specialized head & neck cancer care

Dr. Sokoya surgically removed the tumor using techniques similar to a facelift. This helped the scars heal well and meant minimal downtime during the healing process.

“If you look at my face now, you couldn’t tell,” Michael shared. “Dr. Sokoya did a phenomenal job.”

As a precaution and part of standard practice at Wellstar, the tumor taken from his face went to specialized head and neck pathologists for testing.

“I went into the doctor’s office for a follow-up visit,” Michael remembered. “The doctor said, ‘Unfortunately, it’s cancer.’”

The tumor was a rare type of chronic lymphocytic leukemia and small lymphocytic lymphoma.

“Well, that’s not what I was expecting!” Michael remembered thinking at the time. “I thought it was just a benign tumor. But Dr. Sokoya kept his manner calm, kind and never rushed. He explained things in a non-technical way to make sure I understood.”

Along with Dr. Sokoya’s demeanor, the reverend’s belief that no matter what happens, a higher power is watching out for him helped. Michael said, “My heart rate didn’t go up one bit. I never had a moment of panic.”

Fortunately, Michael was already in the right place for his care.

“We’ve become the destination center for advanced head and neck cancer care,” Dr. Sokoya said. “We can take care of him whatever his needs may be with top-notch physicians who empathize and display emotional intelligence while connecting on a human level throughout treatment.”

Aside from the surgery, Michael did not need further treatment, other than regular monitoring and bloodwork.

“Michael ended up not needing chemo because we caught it early and his medical oncologist is able to watch it closely in case any symptoms develop again,” Dr. Sokoya said.