June 26, 2019
By uclahealth 
“I had to prepare over 200 units of products for one liver transplant patient one time,” says Chris Sierra, a technician who works in the UCLA Blood & Platelet Center in Ackerman Union. “I deal with blood collection, whole blood collection, platelet collection and fresh plasma collection. A couple of co-workers and I opened this […]
Tags: blood collection, featured, fresh plasma collection, liver transplant, platelet collection, UCLA Blood & Platelet Center, whole blood collection
June 24, 2019
By HealinHandz 
In 2002 my mother came to UCLA as a liver transplant patient, little did I know then that the journey would change my life forever. My mother fell ill unexpectedly in November 2001, and by early January 2002 the doctor’s caring for her at Kaiser said my mother needed a lifesaving liver transplant that they […]
Tags: patient stories
May 10, 2019
No Place Like Home: Mother and Daughter Share the Miracle of Organ Transplantation
By uclahealth
After their life-saving liver transplants mother and daughter are happy to be home. As Mother’s Day neared, Georgina Barba wasn’t making any provisions. “I don’t really plan anymore, because then something ends up happening,” says the 36-year-old Carson, California, mother of three. “The main thing is that we will all be home.” Mother’s Days, Father’s […]
Tags: featured, liver transplant, pediatrics, transplant
April 23, 2019
By uclahealth
“When you are on the other side, you feel like you’ve won,” says 72-year-old John Babcock, who received a heart transplant at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center in 2018. “I have hope now, and I didn’t have that before. My story started in 2013 with an arrhythmia in my heart. I came to UCLA Health […]
Tags: arrhythmia, featured, heart transplant, Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center
April 22, 2019
July 10th 2018 I am walking down the halls of Ronald Reagan Medical Center with butterflies in my stomach. My mom and dad following close behind, whispering it would all be okay, reminding me how brave I was. This was a Tuesday unlike any summer day. Typically, surrounded by colleagues at work and heading to […]
Tags: CORE Kidney Program, dialysis, Dr. Anjay Rastogi, featured, kidney disease, kidney donation, Kidney Fair, non-directive donor, organ donation, patient stories, Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, surgery
April 17, 2019
Getting Patients Back to Daily Life
By uclahealth
“Every Monday and Thursday morning we do biopsies for our post-heart transplant patients,” says Dr. Ali Nsair, director of the Heart Transplantation and Mechanical Circulatory Support Program at UCLA. “We do this to confirm that they have no rejection. We’re one of the first programs to adopt a blood test based assay as well, to […]
Tags: blood test, Dr. Ali Nsair, heart biopsy, heart transplant, Mechanical Circulatory Support Program, post-heart transplant
April 15, 2019
By uclahealth
21 years ago I had a quadruple bypass then last March I had a minor heart attack,” says 61-year-old James Harris, who was admitted to Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center to wait for a heart transplant. “I was here for two and a half months waiting, and then a heart finally came. I thought I […]
Tags: heart attack, heart transplant, quadruple bypass, Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center
April 12, 2019
Heart Transplant Support Group
By uclahealth
“This is the heart transplant support group,” says Codie Lieto, far right, a clinical social worker at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center. “We meet with patients, families, and their caregivers. It’s important to have peer-to-peer support. We try to facilitate patients and families being able to support one another and help each other through this […]
Tags: featured, heart transplant, heart transplant support group, Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, social worker, support group
April 10, 2019
By uclahealth
“I got my heart and kidney transplant done at the same time,” says 61-year-old Frank Poblete, who was admitted to Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center after having heart problems since 2001. “I stayed here for about three months waiting for a new heart and in the meantime, my kidney started to fail. One kidney was […]
Tags: dialysis, featured, heart and kidney transplant, heart problems, heart transplant, kidney transplant, pacemaker, Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center
April 5, 2019
By uclahealth
“I’d let other kids know that you’re going to have good days and you’re going to have bad days, but every day is worth it,” says 13-year-old Osker Gamboa, who received a heart transplant three years ago at UCLA Mattel Children’s Hospital. “When I was diagnosed with a heart murmur they said I needed a […]
Tags: featured, heart murmur, heart transplant, UCLA Mattel Children's Hospital
