Spec. MD. Cafer Kaya

I'm a 72-year-old retired teacher who had been struggling with unexplained weight loss and extreme fatigue for months. My local doctor kept dismissing it as 'old age.' When my daughter insisted I see a specialist, we found Dr. Kaya. He didn't just glance at my charts, he spent 45 minutes asking about everything from my sleep patterns to changes in my sense of taste. He discovered my sodium levels were dangerously low. His diagnosis: SIADH, a condition my previous doctor had missed completely. His treatment plan was gradual and careful, no aggressive interventions that could shock my system. Six months later, I'm gardening again. He treats me like a person, not a chart number.

Our 8-year-old son was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes after a terrifying emergency room visit. The pediatric endocrinologist was on vacation, so we were referred to Dr. Kaya. We expected him to be too 'adult-focused,' but he knelt right down to our son's eye level. He explained insulin using a video game analogy, 'Your pancreas is like a character that stopped working, so we're giving you a power-up.' He created a color-coded chart for our son and even showed him how to use the glucose monitor on a teddy bear first. When our son cried about birthday cake, Dr. Kaya worked with a dietitian to create a 'cake day plan.' He transformed our family's panic into manageable routine.

As a 42-year-old competitive cyclist, I noticed my performance plummeting and developed unusual heart palpitations. Multiple cardiologists found nothing wrong. Dr. Kaya, during what I thought would be a routine hormone check, noticed subtle thyroid nodules others had overlooked. He ordered a specific ultrasound protocol and discovered papillary thyroid cancer, early stage. What impressed me most was his surgical coordination: he brought in a surgeon who specialized in nerve-sparing thyroidectomies for athletes. Post-surgery, he designed my hormone replacement to match my metabolic needs for endurance training. I'm back racing, and he monitors my thyroglobulin levels with the precision of a sports scientist. He saw the athlete, not just the cancer.

I arrived at Medical Park Göztepe in crisis, severe hypercalcemia with confusion and kidney impairment. The emergency team stabilized me, but the underlying cause was elusive. Dr. Kaya took over my case at 10 PM. He suspected a rare parathyroid tumor that wasn't showing on standard scans. He ordered a 4D-CT scan that others hadn't considered. When it revealed the tiny adenoma, he didn't just schedule surgery; he spent days correcting my calcium levels first to make surgery safer. During follow-up, he discovered the tumor was part of a genetic syndrome (MEN1) and screened my entire family. My brother was found to have early-stage pancreatic tumors. Dr. Kaya didn't just fix a crisis, he potentially saved multiple lives with his detective work.