Patient Success Stories
Find your care
At UCLA Health, we offer hope to patients who need lung transplants.
Call 310-825-6068 to learn more about the Lung Transplant Program.
If you are post-transplant patient seeking transfer of care, please call our office for more information.
The Force is with this young transplant patient
A 24 year-old woman with cystic fibrosis is starting the new year with new hope thanks to help from the U.S. Air Force, Chewbacca from "Star Wars" and a UCLA surgeon who said yes to a high-risk case.
Kathlyn Chassey of San Antonio, Texas, was born with cystic fibrosis, a genetic disease characterized by the build-up in the lungs of thick, sticky mucus that traps infection-causing bacteria. Chassey's father, Chris, is a chief master sergeant in the United States Air Force. Last November, when her breathing problems worsened. Her condition became critical, and she was placed on life support to take over her breathing function. The only chance of saving her life, doctors warned, was a lung transplant. Read more
1,000th surgery performed at UCLA Lung Transplant
The UCLA Lung Transplant program performed its 1,000th transplant surgery in mid-September, becoming the first program on the West Coast, and one of only seven centers nationwide, to achieve this milestone. The recipient of the donor lungs was Elba De Contreras, 59, from Goleta, California, who suffered from idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis and pulmonary hypertension. The six-hour surgery took place at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, led by Dr. Abbas Ardehali, surgical director of the lung and heart transplant programs. Read more
Life saving transplant at UCLA
Video courtesy of KCAL News
Team Jake receives double lung transplant
Video courtesy of KABC News
Team Jake waits for lung transplant
Video courtesy of KCAL News
UCLA performs first breathing lung transplantation in U.S.
The lung transplant team at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical successfully performed the nation's first "breathing lung" transplant Nov 2012. The ground breaking transplant involved an experimental organ-preservation device known as the Organ Care System (OCS), which keeps donor lungs functioning and "breathing" in a near-physiologic state outside the body during transport. The current standard involves transporting donor lungs in a non-functioning, non-breathing state inside an icebox. Watch video
UCLA transplant doctors honored for life-saving work
Double-lung transplant recipient State Senator Runner praises doctors' dedication. Read more
The woman who lived
The Atascadero News profiles Meara Schmidt who underwent a double-lung transplant.
Celebrating nurses in Los Angeles
Advance for Nurses profiles nurse manager of the UCLA Heart and Lung Transplant program, Caron Burch, MSN, RN, FNP, CCTC. Read more