For Mayo Clinic patients like Isabella Ullo, RST is more than a place to land—it’s where care begins.
For musician Isabella Ullo of Nashville, arriving at Rochester International Airport marked the first moment of relief in a long, uncertain journey.
It was February 2025. She was 21 years old, exhausted, in pain, and arriving in a place she had never been before. The months leading up to that flight had been filled with anxiety: doctors’ appointments, unanswered questions, and a body that no longer did what it was supposed to do.
And yet, standing inside RST, that fear loosened its grip.
“The second we landed, I’ll never forget – we were greeted by such smiling faces,” Isabella says. “My mom and I looked at each other and just went, ‘Oh my gosh, thank God,’ because we were so scared.”
Before a single appointment or scan, before they even reached their hotel, the sense of being cared for had already begun.
When Everything Changed
Just two years earlier, Isabella was living in Nashville, pursuing music full-time, traveling constantly, and playing shows whenever she could. Then, one morning, she woke up and couldn’t get out of bed, feeling like she was physically stuck and that “there was a million pounds crushing down on my shoulders.”
What began as an overwhelming physical sensation quickly became debilitating pain—pain that worsened with time and defied explanation. Doctors told her she was young and healthy. That it was likely migraines. That she should learn to live with it.
So she did—at least outwardly.
She kept performing. She kept traveling. She smiled on stage while her body revolted.
“It felt like someone was pouring burning acid on my brain,” Isabella says. “It wasn’t a headache. It wasn’t a migraine. It felt like it was just going to burst.”
Behind the scenes, her family watched helplessly as she pushed herself to continue performing, while at the same time tirelessly trying to get her the specialty care she needed.
“We had been turned away by so many different doctors and specialists, and finally, after many requests, we got to get a brain, spine, and neck MRI. We didn’t even make it home from that MRI when we got a call from the doctor,” Isabella says.
For her mother, Eva, that moment is seared into memory.
“When the doctor called and said, ‘Rush her to the hospital; she’s bleeding from both sides of her brain,’” Eva recalls, “that’s a phone call no parent is ever prepared for.”
Answers at Last
Isabella finally received clarity: she had a cerebral spinal fluid (CSF) leak, or brain sag, a rare and serious condition where the fluid cushioning the brain escapes through a tear in the spinal cord.
Without that fluid, her brain had no cushioning and was unprotected.
“My brain essentially dropped down,” Isabella explains. “It crushed every nerve. So not only did I have the brain pain, but my eyes, my cheeks, my jaw, my neck, my shoulders, everything was being crushed.”
The diagnosis brought both fear and relief. Fear of what lay ahead. Relief that she hadn’t imagined the pain.
She endured invasive procedures, fully awake due to the risks involved. Her life narrowed to hospital rooms and recovery windows. Music, once the center of everything, was put on pause.
Two years and two failed procedures later, her care team reached a conclusion: she needed to go to Mayo Clinic. The family packed up, flew north, and began the journey to healing.
Arriving at RST: “We knew we were going to be okay”
RST was Isabella’s first introduction to Rochester, and to what would become a defining chapter of her life.
What stood out wasn’t just the size of the airport, how easy it was to navigate, or its 15-minute proximity to a downtown hotel. It was the people. From the moment they arrived, staff offered guidance, answered questions, and helped them figure out transportation without being asked.
“The help started before we ever got to the hospital,” Isabella says. “It felt like we were meeting friends; everyone was so kind.”
Eva noticed it too.
“One of the security staff came up and asked how he could help us,” she says. “And I looked at him, and I thought, ‘This is security, and they’re treating us how we would hope to be treated, like a human…’ You’re treated with such respect and warmth and love the minute you enter RST.”
For a family carrying so much emotional weight, those moments mattered.
“From that point on,” Eva says, “we knew we were going to be okay.”
Why Airports Like RST Matter
Medical travel carries a unique kind of stress. Families arrive worried, exhausted, and focused entirely on what lies ahead. Complicated airports can amplify that anxiety.
RST did the opposite. The simplicity. The proximity. The clear path from gate to shuttle to hotel. And most of all, the feeling of being seen by every RST worker she encountered.
“It felt as if they knew my story, but they had never even met me,” Isabella says.
Eva, who has traveled extensively working for the airlines, noticed how seamlessly everything worked together. The same warmth found at RST extended through their experiences at Mayo Clinic and in the city of Rochester. “We were treated so incredibly well the entire time, and that includes everybody – whether we were in town, whether we were at a restaurant, whether we were walking through a store, no matter where we went.”
Looking Ahead
Mayo Clinic lived up to its world-class reputation in treating Isabella, who credits the Clinic with bringing her to the final stage of her journey, a referral to a world renowned neurosurgeon for one final procedure. Today, she is recovering, and the worst is behind her. “If it weren’t for the doctors and the amazing team at Mayo Clinic assisting in this journey, I don’t know where I would be. I have such a new outlook on life.”
For the first time in a long time, she wakes up without pain.
“I remember being able to wake up and be pain-free, running downstairs and just hugging my family,” she says. “You don’t realize how much the simple things matter until you lose them.”
Her music has changed, too – shaped by experience, perspective, and a desire to help others walking similar paths.
And when she reflects on the journey as a whole, she remembers that huge sigh of relief she felt when deplaning at RST for the first time.
“I’m so grateful for airports like RST,” Isabella says. “When coming to Mayo Clinic, the last thing on your mind is all the little details, and being able to arrive at RST, it was such a peaceful, stress-free experience. Not only did they take that stress off of us, but they added so much comfort and help and love, and we are so, so grateful.”
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Airfare discounts may be available for patients traveling to Mayo Clinic. Mayo Clinic’s Patient Travel Services can assist with air travel arrangements to Rochester.
