Three weeks shy of her 16th birthday, Ky landed in the emergency department with a severe lung infection from influenza A. While most teens recover, Ky would need new lungs. It was the beginning of a long road to recovery powered by a team of medical specialists at American Family Children’s Hospital and Ky’s determination to breathe on her own again.

Aiden Topper’s teddy bear and backpack are a special part of his medical care plan for severe pulmonary hypertension. Through play and fun, the specially-trained Child Life specialists and facility dog, Cola, made the transition to a new way of life a bit easier for both the active 3 ½ year old and his mom.

Having a child in the hospital can have a huge financial impact on families, especially those who travel a distance for care. Gifts to the Patient and Family Fund are used by our social workers to provide extra support when needed.

The hum of Dave Furumoto’s bagpipes is a welcome sound in his home once again.

Since 1973, UW Health | Carbone Cancer Center has remained at the forefront of life-saving discoveries as Wisconsin’s only NCI-designated comprehensive cancer center.

“Our goal at the Hope after Loss Clinic is to provide personalized care to each family and focus not only on their medical needs but also on their emotional needs,” shares Dr. Kristen Sharp, clinical associate professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health.

“Financial support from donors makes it possible for MEDiC to purchase medical supplies and an interpreter phone line needed to properly care for patients,” says Kristi Jones, director of community service programs at the UW School of Medicine and Public Health. “Donor generosity allows us to provide the highest-quality care to all patients.”

“The communication with everyone at UW Health helped us feel connected to all the work that is taking place — it confirms we made the best decision in collaborating with UW Health to help sustain vital pancreatic cancer research.” — Diane Oglesby

Holly Herlitzke was born with a congenital heart defect that caused her aortic valve to narrow over time. At UW Health, she learned she was the ideal candidate for the Ross procedure, which replaces a person’s damaged aortic value with their own pulmonary valve, then replaces the pulmonary valve with a deceased donor’s pulmonary valve.

Retinal cells grown from stem cells can reach out and connect with neighbors, according to a new study, completing a “handshake” that may show the cells are ready for trials in humans with degenerative eye disorders.

Fueled by a passion to help preserve memories, Wisconsinite David Adam is literally going the distance to help raise support and awareness for the UW Initiative to End Alzheimer’s. After losing his father and role model to vascular dementia in 2012, Adam took his love for cycling and rode across Canada to help gather funds for Alzheimer’s disease research and programs.

First-generation college student Ethan Taylor ’22, DPTx’25 enlisted in the military at 17 years old. With support from the Gunnery Sergeant Daniel Price Memorial Scholarship Fund, he joined the physical therapy program at the UW School of Medicine and Public Health, which offered him an inspiring and rewarding future.

UW Health | Carbone Cancer Center is one of three research institutions in the U.S. selected to host a phase I clinical trial of a vaccine for triple-negative breast cancer patients at stages I-III. Dr. Eva Vivian was the first patient nationwide to begin the vaccine series.

After her vacation was dampened by persistent back pain and other mounting symptoms, Susan Skiles knew something was seriously wrong. Following a successful surgery to remove her ovaries and sections of her large intestine and colon, Skiles decided she wanted to seek treatment elsewhere and focused her sites on UW Health | Carbone Cancer Center. With help from gynecologic cancer expert Dr. Ellen Hartenbach, Skiles recognized that she was exactly where she needed and wanted to be.

Wisconsinite Barnabas “Barni” Shiferaw ’22, MDx’26 has his sights set on a future of serving others in the medical field. Barni is the 2022–23 recipient of the Dean’s Academic Scholarship within the UW School of Medicine and Public Health — a fund created to support underrepresented medical students who are members of populations that are experiencing health disparities in the state.

When 28-year-old lung transplant recipient Darlene Johnson walked out of University Hospital in August, 2022, she was not only defying the odds of a grueling 10-month medical nightmare, she was fulfilling a promise she’d made to herself when the possibility of leaving the hospital alive was anything but certain.

Dr. Nathaniel Chin turns his personal experience with Alzheimer’s Disease into work in research at the Wisconsin Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center and a new podcast, Dementia Matters.

George Fait was passionate about pediatric medicine. With seven grandsons and more than six decades of generosity toward UW–Madison, George rallied his three children and their spouses to focus their philanthropic sites on creating the George Fait Family Pediatric Specialty Clinics at the American Family Children’s Hospital.

American Family Children’s Hospital is one of only a handful of centers across the country that have the capability to perform biventricular conversion – a three-surgery sequence for serious heart complications. After undergoing this highly specialized treatment, Joelle Devries is back home in Oklahoma chasing her siblings and enjoying life on the farm.

After nine months in the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) and more than a year on the medical surgical unit at American Family Children’s Hospital, 3-year-old Kingston Vang Wraggs finally got out of the hospital.