Patient Spotlight

Patient Heather Burich with her husband, Alex.
March 4, 2025

‘That’s the most scared I’ve been:’ 23 weeks pregnant with a heart condition.

Heather Burich had just driven to Clarksville after an appointment on Vanderbilt Health’s Nashville campus when she got a call from a doctor she was yet to meet. The news about her echocardiogram results was alarming.

By Matt Batcheldor
February 25, 2025

Gatlin Winter was in the hospital recovering from a heart transplant. His wife Ashlynn was in labor with their first baby. Could he get to her side?

With the help of the team from Vanderbilt Stallworth Rehabilitation Hospital, yes he could.

By Matt Batcheldor
Heart transplant patient Scot Pollard and his wife, Dawn. (photo by Donn Jones)
February 18, 2025

Scot Pollard’s journey took him from the NBA to the heart transplant waitlist

At 6 feet, 11 inches, he played in the NBA for 11 years on five different teams before retiring in 2008 and never had any heart issues that slowed him down.

By Matt Batcheldor
January 2, 2025

2025 New Year’s baby Siora Ray arrives only 12 minutes after midnight

First baby at VWCH: Cash Mitchell; first baby at VTHH: Gwennyth Trinity Grace Freeze-Stele.

By Bill Snyder
December 12, 2024

Go inside the lab as Maddie Wright, a CF warrior, ‘geeks out’ over the science of Vanderbilt Medical Laboratories 

A 17-year-old cystic fibrosis warrior and liver transplant recipient with antibiotic resistance got to see science in action at Vanderbilt Medical Laboratories.

By Jessica Pasley and Erin O. Smith
December 9, 2024

Two years after being hit by a car crossing James Robertson Parkway, Betsy Williams climbs the Capitol steps to thank everyone at VUMC who helped save her life

“The list of miracles is long,” she says.

By Danny Bonvissuto
November 26, 2024

Patient’s family experiences healing power of music

Music therapy focuses on the use of music to help patients with chronic pain, physical rehabilitation, psychiatric symptoms, end of life, procedural support and coping with hospitalization and disease.
By Jessica Pasley
November 7, 2024

Transplant patient’s indomitable spirit proves inspirational

Bill Jackson received a heart and double lung transplant, an unusual procedure performed only a handful of times each year at VUMC and one that can occur at only the most specialized transplant centers.
By Matt Batcheldor
November 1, 2024

‘Ava got a heart’: the best news a family could share about the baby approaching her first birthday

The phone call that brought her father to his knees
By Jessica Pasley
October 22, 2024

Commodore spirit proves too much for superfan’s blood vessels

While most sports injuries happen on the field, one Vanderbilt football fan managed to score one in his own home the night Vanderbilt beat Alabama.
By Holly Fletcher
October 7, 2024

Skydiving, bungee jumping, deer hunting and the World Transplant Games: 13 years after getting her new kidney, Sheila Spann keeps living life to the fullest

All that’s in addition to her day jobs as a pharmacist and diabetes educator just outside of Jackson, Mississippi.
By Matt Batcheldor
October 4, 2024

“Llama Love and M&M’s Forever”: One family’s palliative care experience leads to a lasting expression of gratitude

“The Palliative Care team is a special group of people, and I wouldn’t have wanted to share probably the most devastating week of my life with any other group,” said Jeff. “I’ve been a woodworker for more than 40 years, and I decided I wanted to do something to let them know just how wonderful they are.”
By Jill Clendening
September 19, 2024

One year ago, VUMC nurse Susie Stephens was thrown from a horse and suffered a broken neck. The story of her injury, her recovery — and the day she got back on the horse.

“I wake up every day and wonder why I didn’t die.”
By Wayne Wood
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