UCSF Benioff Children's Hospitals

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UCSF Benioff Children's Hospitals

With locations in Oakland and San Francisco, we're one of the top children's hospitals in the nation, according to U.S. News & World Report.

Our pediatric expertise includes cancer, heart disease, neurological disorders, organ transplants and orthopedics.

23/07/2025

Please help us celebrate Cailean — she’s doing great and is now in nursing school, after multiple surgeries as a teen to treat a brain tumor!

When Cailean was 12, she began experiencing dizziness, vision issues and migraines. Two years later in 2014, she started throwing up frequently, and the right side of her face suddenly went numb. Her mom took her to a hospital near their home in Hawthorne, Nev., and a CT scan showed a large mass in her head.

Cailean transferred to UCSF, where further testing revealed the mass was a tumor called a posterior fossa pilocytic astrocytoma. The tumor was blocking fluid from flowing through her spine, causing excess fluid to build up in her brain. On Dec. 18, 2014, Cailean had a 9-hour brain surgery, and then began physical, occupational and speech therapy, relearning how to walk and feed herself, as well as general motor skills. She was thrilled to go home several weeks later! Cailean later had three optical surgeries at UCSF, as a result of the tumor.

Inspired by the nurses who cared for her in the hospital, Cailean is now a nursing student in Reno! She still remembers one nurse who stayed by her bedside during a particularly tough time in the hospital. “She gave me a bit of time and that made all the difference,” Cailean says. “I want to use my experiences to help patients to have the care they deserve.”

17/07/2025

Please help us congratulate Dawn — she’s doing great after having three heart surgeries as a child, and an additional surgery as an adult at our hospitals!

In 1969, when Dawn was a baby, her mother noticed she would sometimes become short of breath and pass out. Originally, Dawn's doctor thought it was a cold, but when she was 6 months old, a new doctor became concerned.

He contacted a colleague, the late Dr. Stanley Higashino, for an emergency appointment. Dawn came to our Oakland hospital, where Dr. Higashino diagnosed her with a congenital heart defect and scheduled her for surgery. The late Dr. Ivan May placed a band around her heart to correct a ventricular septal defect, with hope for new surgical advances in the future. Dawn went on to have two more surgeries as a child and did great until 2011, when Dr. Phillip Moore placed a stent in her heart at UCSF Health. Unfortunately, earlier this year, Dawn experienced a mild heart attack, but luckily tests showed no major damage to her heart! She is now doing well again.

Dawn enjoys spending time with her family, hiking, going to Ocean Beach and road trips — either solo or with her son. She also runs a small business, selling jewelry and home décor. “If we are brave enough to share our stories, we can let people know they’re not alone,” she says.

16/07/2025

❤️ Farewell to nurse Marianne, who retired from our Oakland hospital after 50+ years of service! Marianne joined us as a volunteer in 1974, was hired part-time the following year, and became a registered nurse in 1982, caring for patients in hematology and oncology — and leaving a lasting impact on countless families.
Earlier this month, she rang our end-of-treatment bell, but this time it was a “happy retirement bell”!
At the celebration, Marianne gifted each of her coworkers a heart-shaped wooden ornament, saying she was “leaving a piece of my heart with each of you at this hospital.”
Marianne is looking forward to spending time with her children and grandchildren, visiting relatives, traveling across the country, and maybe even taking a cruise! ❤️

11/07/2025

Please congratulate Heather — she’s doing great and back to school and basketball after a heart attack in eighth grade!
In September 2023, Heather was in class in Tracy when her lips turned blue, and she began to wheeze and fell to the floor. A quick-thinking classmate called 911, and her principal began CPR.
The police and fire department arrived, replacing her principal’s CPR with an AED machine. Soon after, Heather's heart stopped. Fortunately, after four shocks, her heart began to beat again. She was rushed to a local hospital, where providers placed her in a medically induced coma and airlifted her to our Oakland hospital. There, tests revealed that the lower portion of Heather's heart had sustained damage due to a sudden unexplained cardiac arrest. Three days later, she traveled to our Mission Bay hospital for surgery, and cardiologist Dr. Karyn Austin successfully placed an ICD device.
Between both hospitals, Heather spent more than two weeks in the Cardiac ICU and was happy to receive cards and letters from her school friends!
When she returned to school, she had a full es**rt from South San Joaquin County Fire Authority - Tracy, CA and Tracy Police.
Heather is now in high school and playing basketball again! She regularly speaks at schools about the importance of CPR education and access to AED devices.
She also recently became a national ambassador for the American Heart Association and played a key role in new California legislation that requires schools to include emergency plans for sudden cardiac arrests. The new law is named after Heather — it’s called the Heather Freligh Act!

10/07/2025

👏 Please help us celebrate Zi Long! He rang our end-of-treatment bell after more than a month in our Oakland hospital receiving treatment for beta thalassemia, an inherited blood disorder. Zi Long came to us on March 3 and spent 49 days at our hospital undergoing gene therapy. During Zi Long’s bell ringing, our staff gave him a purple heart to recognize his bravery, and he wore his Beads of Courage too.
Zi Long is now back home in Portland and excited to spend time with his friends, cheer on his favorite club, the Portland Timbers, and enjoy his summer break! 🎊

04/07/2025

Happy from all the kids (and dogs!) at our hospitals!

03/07/2025

Farewell and happy trails to Michael Towne, who retired last month after more than 20 years as our manager of Child Life Services in San Francisco (and 24+ years at UCSF)! Michael started many wonderful traditions at our hospital, including the patient prom, teddy bear clinic and Halloween hallway trick-or-treating, as well as leading the department as it grew four-fold! He has been training to become an end-of-life doula and hopes to support patients in their final days during his retirement!

02/07/2025

🚀 Our patients went on an intergalactic adventure with a special screening of Disney's and Pixar's new movie, Elio! They watched from their rooms or joined us in the playroom, where they met talented Pixar artists who sketched their favorite animated characters. Huge thanks to Disney and Pixar for brightening our patients’ day and for the amazing gift bags! 🌌

01/07/2025

Thank you, Toyota USA and Coliseum Lexus of Oakland, for their incredible $600K gift to our Oakland hospital's trauma team!
We’re using the funds to help expand our Traumatic Brain Injury Program to care for more kids in Oakland and the greater Bay Area!

27/06/2025

🎓 Congratulations to Tru on his graduation from elementary school!
Tru was born almost two months early with a tracheoesophageal fistula, a birth defect requiring surgery. During his 146 days in our Intensive Care Nursery, Tru was a popular little guy with his nurses — and he's kept in touch with them ever since.
He even attended San Francisco Giants Nurses Appreciation Night with his former nurses this year! Tru is doing great and is competing in the West Coast National & Primary Championship for track and field and heading to middle school soon! 🎉

26/06/2025

A huge thank you to San Francisco Giants legend Buster Posey and his wife, Kristen, for their surprise visit to our hospital! Buster brought plenty of smiles, as he signed baseball cards and hats for patients in our medical-surgical and oncology units! We’re so grateful to the Posey family for their love and support over the years!

18/06/2025

Please congratulate Roger — he's been seizure-free for months and is back to his normal self, after our doctors treated his brain tumor with laser therapy!
Roger is from Reno and began losing speech and experiencing motor problems, such as twitches and jerks, at age 2. He saw neurosurgeon Dr. Peter Sun at our monthly Reno clinic and traveled to our hospital for the laser procedure, a technique that has been used to treat epilepsy for some time but is new for brain tumors.
The treatment, called laser interstitial thermal therapy, or LITT, is less invasive than brain surgery, and therefore has lower risks and a quicker recovery.
The morning after his LITT procedure, Roger was already saying words and pointing again!
“His personality is back," his mom says. "This technique is a miracle."
More about Roger's story ➡️ https://ucsfh.org/3HjsuTR

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+18886898273

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http://www.ucsfbenioffchildrens.org/

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