Martha Lindner and her daughter Blake Lindner Thompson were both threatened by breast cancer. They both had surgery — on the same day, with the same surgeon. And, deeply grateful for the care they received, the family collaborated to make a generous gift to support breast cancer research at Yale Medicine.

I’m never doing that again,” said Martha Linder to her husband Carl when she returned home from a mammogram appointment. Thirty years earlier Martha had breast cancer. She’d gone through chemo, radiation, illness, hair loss — the whole awful package. Ever since, she had faithfully gone in for a mammogram, not once annually like most women, but twice a year. And now at age 72, after enduring dozens of mammograms and getting the all-clear every time, she was ready to be done with the whole thing.

Then her doctor called with some unwelcome news. The breast cancer was back. “It was disheartening and frightening,” says Martha.

“But in situations like that you have no choice but to put one foot in front of the other.”

Martha’s thoughts whirled. After so many years, how could it be back? What was she going to do? And Blake! What about Blake?

There’s an incredibly unfortunate history of breast cancer in Martha’s family. Her mother had breast cancer and passed away because of it. Her sister had it. An aunt. A niece. A few years ago, Martha’s daughter Blake, wanting to be proactive, had some pre-cancer surgeries done. And recently, Blake told her mom that she was considering having a double mastectomy done proactively. At the time, Martha says she thought her daughter was being too aggressive. She encouraged Blake to hold off and keep up with her regular checkups.

But now, with Martha’s own cancer reappearing, she thought maybe Blake had the right idea after all.

Access to the Brightest and Best

Over the years the Lindners had heard many stories about Healthnetwork from friends and neighbors in Ocean Reef, a private community in Key Largo, Florida, where they own a home. But they’d never felt a need to take advantage of the access themselves — until now. Because of the aggressive treatment she’d had in the past, Martha was not a candidate for any more chemo or radiation. This time, her only option was a mastectomy.

Facing such a major surgery, she wanted absolute peace of mind knowing she would be in the best hands. She reached out to Healthnetwork and was put in touch with Dr. Mehra Golshan at Yale Medicine, who is renown around the world for his expertise in breast cancer surgery.

Meanwhile, Blake had been doing her own research and interviewing surgeons. “But no one was willing to do the mastectomy and the reconstructive implants as part of the same surgery,” says Martha. Instead, the surgeons Blake spoke to recommended two separate surgeries, spaced apart by several months. While Blake understood the reasoning for this, she was still holding out hope someone could get it done all at once. “Otherwise she would lose a year of her life,” explains Martha. “It was her daughter’s senior year of high school and she didn’t want to miss out.”

Again, Martha asked Healthnetwork to assist, and Blake was put in contact with Yale Medicine, as well. Dr. Golshan and his colleague, Dr. Siba Haykal, Section Chief of Reconstructive Oncology, felt comfortable attempting both surgeries on the same day.

Mother & Daughter, Same Day Surgeries

On the same day in September 2025, Martha and Blake both checked in to Yale Hospital. Martha’s surgery took place at 7:30 am; Blake’s at 10:30. They spent several days recovering in rooms down the hall from one another in the hospital and another week at a nearby hotel.

Both surgeries were a success. Afterwards, Dr. Golshan reassured Blake she had done the right thing. Upon examining the tissue, he saw traces of cancer in both breasts. “I think if you had waited much longer, you would have ended up in here with stage 1 breast cancer" he told her.

Both Martha and Blake were impressed with the treatment they received. “The doctors’ level of attentiveness was over the top, especially in today’s world of medicine. That made all the difference. Even still today Dr. Golshan texts us both to see how we’re doing,” says Martha.

Having been cared for so well made it an easy decision to make a gift. “They were such incredible doctors,” says Martha. “We want to make sure bright people like them can do research and keep doing the good work they’re doing.”