Prof. M.D. Handan Onur Topuzlu

My 82-year-old mother was diagnosed with metastatic colon cancer after a fall revealed unexpected lesions. Dr. Handan Onur Topuzlu approached her case not just as an oncologist, but as a geriatric specialist. She created a modified treatment plan that considered my mother's mild dementia and heart condition, using lower-dose oral chemotherapy that she could tolerate at home. What struck me most was how Dr. Topuzlu would kneel to eye level with my mother's wheelchair, speaking slowly in Turkish about her garden rather than just medical terms. The tumors have remarkably shrunk by 40% in four months, and my mother's quality of life has actually improved—she's back tending her roses. At Acibadem Taksim, they treated the whole person, not just the scan.

Our 7-year-old daughter's recurrent fevers turned out to be a rare pediatric sarcoma behind her kidney. The terror we felt is indescribable. Dr. Topuzlu met us in the emergency department at 11 PM, still in her coat from home, and immediately coordinated with pediatric surgeons. She explained the complex immunotherapy protocol using dinosaur analogies our daughter could understand—calling the drugs 'dinosaur soldiers fighting monster cells.' During the six-month treatment, she noticed our daughter's anxiety about needle procedures and arranged for a child life specialist to be present every time. Yesterday, we got the all-clear scan. Dr. Topuzlu didn't just save our child; she preserved her childhood through the process.

As a 45-year-old researcher with BRCA2 mutation, my 'routine surveillance' at Acibadem Taksim turned urgent when Dr. Topuzlu spotted a subtle change in my breast MRI that two other centers had dismissed. She personally walked my images to the radiology department for a second read, then designed a preventive surgical oncology plan that felt paradoxically aggressive yet conservative—removing tissue but preserving aesthetics through immediate reconstruction coordination. Her approach was fiercely analytical, presenting me with decision trees and survival statistics, yet profoundly human when she acknowledged the emotional weight of choosing surgery over watchful waiting. Twelve months post-procedure, I'm cancer-free and grateful for a doctor who treats vigilance as both science and art.

My husband's glioblastoma recurrence coincided with Istanbul's massive earthquake last year. Amid hospital evacuations and chaos at Acibadem Taksim, Dr. Topuzlu organized an emergency treatment station in the parking garage, continuing his infusion by battery-powered pumps while aftershocks rattled equipment. She secured last-minute trial access to a targeted therapy from Germany when supply chains collapsed, calling in personal favors at 3 AM. But beyond crisis medicine, she recognized our trauma—offering her personal mobile number to our displaced family, and later connecting us with post-disaster counseling. He lived nine meaningful months longer than predicted. Some doctors practice medicine; Dr. Topuzlu practices humanity in its rawest form, especially when systems fail.