Lee, age 40

The youngest of three and a product of an at-home birth in rural Oregon, everything was on track for my life to be normal. And honestly, it was normal — at least for a few days — until my parents realized I was a blue baby and rushed me to the hospital, only to find out that I had a whole slew of very complicated, very intense, very not-normal heart problems.

Growing up with major heart surgery after major heart surgery, four open-heart surgeries by the time I was 13, I was told I would never be able to do things that non-CHD people could do, like go on roller coasters, jump out of a plane, or have a baby… you know, the normal stuff.

Knowing that Oregon didn’t have the specialized medical care I needed, my parents, originally from California, moved back to ensure that I would be in the hands of UCLA Health.

Then, one day at 13, I passed out and was rushed into major surgery, where Dr. Hillel Laks (the hands of God, apparently) saved my life and set me up for everything I have today. In the midst of this very complicated surgery, he gave me a bovine valve I lovingly called “Bessie,” and because of his amazing work, I wouldn’t need another surgery for 27 years!

I was living life fairly normally. I was able to do the things I loved. Being a sick kid and needing to find an outlet, I got into comedy — the nurses forever being my first audience — and I went on to perform on comedy stages across the world. I even won a comedy show on NBC. You know, normal stuff.

"I had been given another chance at life and threw myself at the opportunity — literally. I love a physical bit. Here I thought I’d never make it past 20, and now, with the help of the amazing team at UCLA Health, I was able to live my dream as a writer and comedian. I even met my husband doing comedy, all while having the confidence that came with feeling strong and healthy through every pratfall."

-Lee, age 40

On track for a very normal existence, my husband and I fell deeper in love, traveled, and blah blah blah, best years of my life.

And for those years, we were relegated to the idea that we, as a couple, were just that — a couple.

The one thing missing from the equation was the thing I’d always been told I’d never be able to do: have children. Obviously, my heart and body had been through enough. I was already considered the miracle child by my friends and family, who are impressed by me doing basically anything. I could get a standing ovation just for folding the laundry. Having a child was something we accepted as impossible, and we were content. Why even risk it?

Then, in March of 2024, I started feeling shortness of breath, dizziness and just not myself. You know, all of the things you fear and never want to feel. I went to my routine appointment with the amazingly incredible Dr. Reardon (to know him is to love him), and we noticed my 27-year-old pulmonary valve, Bessie, would probably need to be put out to pasture.

Also, coincidentally, because of the writer’s strike, my healthcare was running out at the end of that month. EEK! We were terrified.

Luckily, with the love and care from UCLA Health, Dr. Reardon got to work quickly and was able to get us in with the insanely amazing Dr. Aboulhosn, who I’m fully convinced was a cowboy in another life — you know, a trailblazer just feral enough to perform incredible procedures that one can only find at UCLA Health.

We were going to rush into a major procedure with only two weeks’ notice! What if, what if, what if?

During those wrought two weeks of uncertainty, my husband and I went on what we lovingly called the “Farewell Tour.” We have a dark sense of humor, but we were doing all of the things you do when you don’t know if you’ll ever see each other again: revisiting first dates, finally going to the beach that’s only 22 minutes away, and forcing ourselves to be in the moment, where nothing else mattered.

As most people do when faced with the unknown, we started looking for signs that “everything was going to be ok”. You know, like angel numbers or cloud shapes — for us, it was birds. Every hawk, owl or sparrow we saw became an indicator that we were moving in the right direction. Birds became our totem. (Good thing there are a lot of them.)

Those two weeks were a lot, but I know how incredible it is to be in the hands of UCLA Health. I had to make the decision to trust the people who had already given me my beautiful life again.

After meeting with Dr. Aboulhosn and hearing him say he was excited to jump in and finish what Dr. Laks started, I felt completely confident in everything he said, including: “When I’m done, you’ll be as good as new. You’ll even be able to have children if you want.”

Woah. What?

“I’ll go in through your leg and deploy your valve through a catheter,” he explained.

Stunned and naive, my husband asked if this was safe and whether he had done this before. Dr. Aboulhosn casually replied that he had “written the textbook on it.”

We laughed it off until later, when we came to find out he had LITERALLY written the textbook on it. And he nailed it.

He put Bessie out to pasture and replaced her with “Gurtie,” an Edward SAPIEN 3 valve contraption that I’m still wrapping my head around. It felt like someone had pushed a reset button. I was good as new. I was back!

Both doctors said I had made a full recovery and could do everything I wanted to again — including, yes, you guessed it, having a child.

I remember saying, “Childbirth was something I was told I’d never be able to do,” to which Dr. Reardon, like such a badass, replied, “That’s why you came to me.”

OOF! That’s the quote of the movie right there! I just got chills rewriting it.

Once again, my amazing doctors gave me the confidence to go for it. The only tiny caveat? I was turning 40 and had to get on it.

We focused and thought of all of the birds, laughs, opportunities and good signs and decided, “Let’s just try.”

Then instantly panicked and called Dr. Reardon and was like, “Are you sure I can handle this?”

But it was too late. We were pregnant! It was happening! EEEK!

Again, we were back on the roller coaster, living in the moment — but this time, the same scary, ominous drive from the year before was full of excitement and joy. Echocardiograms once done on my beating heart had now turned into ultrasounds of our little girl tap dancing on my bladder.

Every checkup, every meeting with our amazing OB, Dr. Afshar (another UCLA Health god), proved to me that the risks I had taken and all the trust I had placed in UCLA Health had led me here. I was doing the impossible.

It’s already wild to be 40 and pregnant, but 40 and pregnant with five heart procedures behind me? Who did I think I was? Was this going to be crazy? It wasn’t.

I don’t know what it says about my medical past that pregnancy and birth were comparatively some of the least craziest things I’ve ever gone through. The birth itself couldn’t have been more “normal.” I mean, sure I had the flu, gestational hypertension and had to be induced three weeks early — but that’s nothing when you’ve had open-heart surgeries under your belt!

As grateful as I could possibly be for the chance at normalcy, I delivered our little girl Birdie (a nod to our totems) on Christmas Eve of last year.

And she’s everything: sunshine, rainbows, the air we breathe.

We are just so, so lucky to have had the team at UCLA Health that we did to guide us along the way and make the impossible possible.