Michael went into heart failure at 23. As a young, active man, he wasn’t sure a ventricular assist device (VAD) was the best fit for him. Our dedicated physicians worked with Michael to help keep him weightlifting, with a VAD. …
Al Johnson has lived in Georgia for most of his life. After owning a successful auto repair shop in the area for 20 years, he had to retire his business right next door due to his unexpected health issues. This was crushing to him after building a business he truly…
Read the incredible story of the heroic efforts by numerous University of Florida Health teams who saved Nikia, a girl with injuries so severe, the medical experts said, “She shouldn’t be alive.”…
David works as a lineman with Duke Energy. For most of his career as a lineman with Duke Energy, David Goff has climbed tall utility poles to inspect and repair high-voltage wires. It is a tough job that requires…
Lung transplant recipient Mike Preston visits with his grandchildren. An uncontrollable cough led Tampa Bay-area resident Mike Preston to seek medical attention. Preston visited his primary care physician and specialists to find out the cause. Within five months,…
In March, Ronald “Ronny” Pruitt, the head football coach for Union County High School in Lake Butler, and his wife, Robin, packed their bags for a spring break trip to the Bahamas. Before leaving, Ronny had the beginning of what seemed like a cold. His family physician prescribed a Z-Pak…
Robin Thomas lived one struggling breath at a time. Diagnosed with end-stage chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, her only option for survival was a lung transplant. However, the odds of finding a set of donor lungs did not appear to be favorable. By some estimates, nearly 80 percent of donor lungs…
Tiago Machuca, M.D., Ph.D., an assistant professor of surgery at the University of Florida College of Medicine, recently performed UF Health’s first lung transplants using organs treated on the XVIVO Perfusion System. The device preserves donated lungs that do not initially meet the standard criteria for lung transplantation but may…
For Rosalie Youngerman, the chance to get a new aortic valve without open-heart surgery was literally a lifesaver. In July, Youngerman became the 100th person at the University of Florida Health Shands Hospital to undergo a transcatheter aortic valve replacement, a procedure that allows surgeons to replace valves in patients…
When Dan Fulford needed heart surgery in August 2010 to stop his atrial fibrillation, he didn’t mind that he would be only the third person to undergo a hybrid Mini-Maze at the hands of a UF cardiac surgeon and an electrophysiologist . “My wife wanted me to…
