UCSF Benioff Children's Hospitals

Please congratulate Matthew — he’s doing great almost six years after relearning to walk, due to a stroke at age 14! In February 2019, Matthew collapsed during a soccer game and was rushed to another hospital, where doctors discovered he’d experienced a middle cerebral artery stroke. He transferred to UCSF, where he spent 11 days in our pediatric ICU and then two months recovering. The stroke paralyzed Matthew on his right side, and he learned to walk and move again through physical and occupational therapy at our hospital. Matthew kept up with his eighth-grade classes through our hospital school! He was thrilled to achieve his goal of walking the stage at his eighth-grade graduation! By his junior year of high school, Matthew was able to start playing soccer games again with his school’s varsity team. Matthew is now a sophomore in college studying civil engineering. He still plays soccer on a local team and loves to golf with friends on the weekends!

Thank you, San Francisco Ballet, for visiting the kids at our hospital! They loved your performance of Nutcracker! 🩰

Peter Sun, MD, UCSF Benioff Children's Hospitals, used a 3D-printed model of a young patient’s skull to guide a life-changing surgery. By identifying and carefully repositioning a piece of bone pressing on the optic nerve, Alexander Lin, MD, MBA, helped restore the child’s vision after a traumatic injury. https://lnkd.in/eAtyEiSP

Congratulations, Dr. Jason Nagata! 🎉

💙 Meet Dilan. Six years ago, at just 11 years old, he suffered severe brain damage from an allergic reaction. His parents’ decision to airlift him to UCSF saved his life. With the help of his care team, Dilan defied all odds and made an incredible recovery in just two months. Today, on #GivingTuesday, Credit Unions for Kids is matching all gifts to our hospitals 2:1, up to $400,000, so more kids like Dilan can receive life-saving care! Please consider donating ➡️ https://ucsfh.org/3OC73O8

Please congratulate Emerson’s family! She’s doing great after spending her first month of life in our Oakland hospital, receiving breathing support. Emerson was born in Stockton and came to us after inhaling meconium during her mother’s labor and developing pulmonary hypertension, a type of high blood pressure that can affect the lungs and heart. During her stay with us, Emerson was on oxygen support and a feeding tube. Now, Emerson is off oxygen, eating from a bottle, enjoying purees, and hitting all her milestones! 🎉

Happy Thanksgiving from all the little turkeys at our hospitals! 🦃

Our Oakland hospital is enrolling patients in an exciting new clinical trial that aims to cure sickle cell disease! The trial is the first in the U.S. to apply non-viral CRISPR-Cas9 gene-editing technology in humans to directly correct the genetic mutation that causes the blood disorder. Sickle cell disease affects approximately 100,000 Americans and millions worldwide, with a disproportionate effect on the Black community. The treatment is "a potential game changer for young sickle cell patients because the therapy eliminates the need for a suitable donor and removes the mutation for a life free of sickle cell disease,” principal investigator Dr. Mark Walters says. Researchers are recruiting patients for treatment in California, beginning with up to six adults with sickle cell disease. Learn more about the trial ➡️ https://ucsfh.org/3VdbEdc

It's unusual for medical staff to keep up with patients after they're discharged from a hospital. But pediatric cardiac ICU nurse Kathleen Cinelli has found a way to stay in touch: the Hearts at Home program. “I figured if I could open up this pathway for us to communicate and create this community that stays connected, that there was no limit to what we could continue to learn from each other," she says. Read more ➡️ https://ucsfh.org/3ZcPk4W

Our pediatric transplant patients and their families celebrated post-transplant life at the 27th annual Chris Mudge Pediatric Transplant Picnic! Thank you to all the organ donors who give the gift of life to our patients. ❤️