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Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center Rated One of the Top Hospitals in the Nation for 20th Consecutive Year
Ronald Reagan
UCLA Medical Center
Rated One of the Top 
Hospitals in the Nation
20 Consecutive Years

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In the News

Kidney  transplants at UCLA Medical Center have a domino effect

Oct 23, 2009
By Molly Hennessy-Fiske

Dr. Hans Gritsch, left, and Dr. Brian Shuch perform a kidney transplant on Donna Morrison, 67, a retired flight attendant from Santa Ana. (Spencer Weiner / Los Angeles Times / October 22, 2009)At 8:25 Thursday morning, Dr. Peter Schulam extracted a healthy kidney from a 60-year-old woman, slipped it into a bowl of sterile ice and wheeled it into the operating room next door. The donor, Nancy Seruto, a San Dimas mother, had never met the recipient, a 67-year-old retired flight attendant from Santa Ana.

Less than two hours later, Seruto's husband was on the same operating table at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center. Another stranger, a 53-year-old Chatsworth mother of two, was giving him a kidney.

They were among 18 patients paired by surgeons as part of a rare transplant chain, built largely on trust.  Read full story.


Kidney Chain that pays it forward could help thousands

June 4, 2009
By CBC News

Dr. Jeffrey Veale (photo credit CBC)

Dr. Jeffrey Veale, who graduated from the University of Calgary and now works at UCLA, is one of the first doctors who promoted kidney transplant chains based on the idea of "paying it forward" - that the beneficiary of a good deed will, in turn, do one for someone else.

The chain begins with an altruistic donor who gives a kidney to someone with a relative who wanted to donate but wasn't a match. That relative's kidney is then donated to a stranger in the same situation, and the chain continues for as long as possible.  Read full story.


UCLA Heart Transplant Recipient Honored

Apr 17, 2009
By Denise Dador

UCLA Heart Transplant Recipient Bill SearsKABC-Channel 7 reported Friday on Bill Sears, who received a heart transplant at UCLA eight years ago and now volunteers full time with heart transplant patients at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center and with a UCLA-based medical mission that travels to South America to aid children with heart ailments. Dr. Jon Kobashigawa, clinical professor of cardiology and medical director of UCLA's heart transplant program, was featured in the report.  Click for video and story link: Former heart patient has hope for life.


Rose Parade reunites surgeon, transplant patient after 25 years

Dec. 31, 2008
By Enrique Rivero

Milt Bemis (from left) and his wife, Janis; Dr. Busuttil holding a photograph of Matthew Bemis; and Lily and Brian Allen. [Photos: MosesSparks.com]

Among the 46 floral entries that dazzled the millions of Rose Parade watchers on the street and at home was one special float dedicated to those individuals whose invaluable donations of organs, corneas or tissue have saved and healed others in need. Read full article.

 


Rose-Parade Float Riders Profiled by Regional TV

Dec. 30, 2008
By Dennis Kellogg

Dr. Nicholas CacalanoKHAS-Channel 5 (Hastings, NE) on Dec. 30 profiled a husband and wife who donated their drowned two-year-old son’s liver to a California toddler who underwent her transplant 24 years ago at UCLA Medical Center. The newly married young woman was slated to ride the “Donate Life” float in the Rose Parade on New Years Day. KEYT-Channel 3 (Santa Barbara) on Dec. 23 also profiled float rider Joe Darga, a 74-year-old UCLA heart transplant recipient, who was honored for his extensive volunteer efforts to educate the public about organ donation. “One Life is Given to Save Another”  Read full article

 


Couple becomes link in life-changing kidney 'chain'

Dec. 16, 2008
By Cynthia Lee / UCLA Today

Steven Shaevel and FamilySteven Shaevel has already given his wife, Gail, the best holiday gift he could ever imagine. He gave up a kidney – but not to Gail, who already received a life-saving kidney transplant from a complete stranger a month earlier at the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center.

Shaevel, director of academic personnel for the UCLA School of Dentistry, gave his kidney to another stranger, who had it transplanted at Stanford Hospital on the same day Shaevel donated it, Nov. 19. His wife received her kidney because Shaevel agreed to donate his.   Read full article.


West Clovis High Football Player with Chronic Pancreatitis Receives Islet Transplant at UCLA

Nov. 08, 2008
By Matt James / The Fresno Bee

Dr. Nicholas Cacalano

Caleb Iness woke up Thursday with an aching gut so he stayed in bed all day.

On Friday morning his mother took him to the doctor's office. They weren't sure what it might be, maybe an ulcer, more likely irritable bowel syndrome, so the doctor quadrupled his medication and Caleb went to class at Clovis West High.

That night, as he has all football season, he padded his midsection and started at right tackle for the Golden Eagles. They beat Madera High, badly.

"Caleb will go weeks and be fine," says Clovis West coach Gary Kinne. "Then he'll miss a couple practices. This week he missed Wednesday and Thursday. The kids know what's going on. They know he wouldn't miss unless it was real."

The current pain is real annoying, but it's nothing compared to where Caleb Iness has been. His teammates and classmates and teachers are aware that he has been sick, that he has suffered, that he has missed an entire year of school, but they couldn't possibly understand.   Read full article.

 


 

A Daisy Chain of Kidney Donations

Sep 23, 2008
By Rhonda Rundle / The Wall Street Journal

Pamela Heckathorn received a kidney from an anonymous donor on July 30. The operation not only allowed the 51-year-old to avoid dialysis treatments; it also kicked off a chain of transplants that have benefited a number of other kidney patients.  Read full article.