Patient Spotlight

Melissia Boynton speaks with a visitor a few days after her heart transplant. (photo by Kylie Avery)
May 17, 2024

A Mother’s Day to remember

Melissia Boynton got the call about 3 a.m. on Mother’s Day that her new heart was available. Immediately, her plans changed from a barbecue around the family pool to a middle-of-the-night drive to Nashville to get her new heart.

By Matt Batcheldor
May 7, 2024

A team approach to care 

LSU baseball fan sporting a new set of lungs after VUMC transplant

By Matt Batcheldor
April 15, 2024

Looking for the coolest place at Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt? The new ICEE machine is a welcome oasis.

Patient Emily Rodgers is partial to cherry flavor. “Overall, I just really love it. Oh, and it’s free, which is really nice!”

By Jessica Pasley
March 29, 2024

A gunshot to the head. A long recovery. Then a wedding.

Special Agent Adam Daniels celebrates ongoing recovery after gunshot causes traumatic brain injury; family’s gift will support care of others with similar injuries

By Jill Clendening
March 8, 2024

Scalp cooling allows woman to keep hair during chemotherapy

The Food and Drug Administration first granted marketing approval for the DigniCap system for patients with breast cancer in 2015, then in 2017 the FDA expanded the authorization, making it the first cooling cap cleared for use in cancer patients with solid tumors, such as breast cancer, ovarian cancer and colorectal cancer.

By Tom Wilemon
February 27, 2024

Ballerina dancing again after inspiring recovery from brain tumor

Emily Kneussle, a 20-year-old aspiring professional ballerina, was “born a dancer.” When a tumor in her brain threatened her dreams, Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt helped her get back on stage.

By Nancy Humphrey
December 18, 2023

The fourth grader was in the hospital and missed his classmates. They missed him too. So all 66 of them came to visit.

"It was really important to us to show him he is in our hearts.”
By Jessica Pasley
December 15, 2023

Owen Canavan was badly injured six years ago. He uses experience to encourage others recovering from traumatic injuries.

In 2017, Canavan was working out at a fitness center when a car came crashing into the building and pinned him against a wall. In the span of a week, he underwent eight surgeries.
By Jill Clendening
December 14, 2023

Healing over the holidays: A nurse’s guide to spending the holidays at the hospital

There's no place like the hospital for the holidays. And we don't mean that in a good way. But here are some ways to make it better.
By Courtney Graetzer, RN
November 22, 2023

Gracie was with her mom and grandmother on a road trip. A medical emergency brought the Angel 7 ambulance to her rescue.

Angel 7 is the first pediatric transport team in Tennessee to offer extracorporeal membrane oxygenation — ECMO — for its patients. It was the difference in life and death.
By Jessica Pasley
October 12, 2023

The couple was staying in the hospital with a sick child. When the staff heard it was their anniversary, they arranged a special dinner with candlelight and flowers.

Jim and Jill Somerville ended up with an anniversary to remember — and a commemorative plaque
By Jessica Pasley
September 21, 2023

Two miracles, four years apart

Kelly Harden's life was saved by a lung transplant. Exactly four years later, she was saved again with a kidney transplant.
By Matt Batcheldor
September 15, 2023

A year of teamwork restores patient’s arm after devastating accident

Hundreds of Vanderbilt Emergency Medicine, Trauma, Orthopaedic Surgery, Plastic Surgery and Occupational Therapy clinicians have played a role in saving and restoring the function of patient Dawn Reed’s right arm and hand after a utility terrain vehicle accident.
By Jill Clendening
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