Throughout 2018, Kami Waalkens noticed the pain in her left hip only occasionally. She’d feel a twinge when she worked out on certain machines at the gym, or when she raised a leg to climb into the car, or when she ran a virtual 5K race. Then a 25-year-old hospital social worker in Mason City, Iowa, Waalkens ignored the intermittent pain for six months—she assumed her sciatic nerve was acting up…

A baby’s first steps, their first day of school, holidays, graduations, sporting events, weddings. The list goes on and on of all the milestones parents hope to see in their children’s lives. But for Melanie Putnam, that list was much shorter 13 years ago. “I remember praying, ‘God, just please let me live long enough to see my kids finish elementary school,’” Putnam says. “I just wanted them to…

One “I love you” is all Lukas Hazen’s parents were guaranteed as he was flown by medical helicopter to University of Iowa Health Care Stead Family Children’s Hospital. Because they chose Iowa’s top children’s hospital, they’ve had 12 years of love and joy with their son, but the journey hasn’t come without its challenges. Josh and Jayme Hazen were warned their son might not survive childbirth…

When Raelyn Miller-Ramirez and her family moved to Iowa from Oregon, they felt a little lost as Raelyn navigated the world without her sight. Thankfully, because of a family connection to Iowa, they found hope when they transferred her care to University of Iowa Health Care Stead Family Children’s Hospital. Raelyn’s harrowing health care journey started two weeks before her sixth birthday, when…

Newborn deliveries at University of Iowa Health Care have increased significantly in recent years. This includes the number of premature and high-risk babies in need of specialized neonatal care. Many of these babies are admitted to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at UI Health Care Stead Family Children’s Hospital. To accommodate the state’s growing need for maternal care and specialized…

Patients with symptomatic, severe tricuspid valve regurgitation now have more options available to them at University of Iowa Health Care. Two new minimally invasive treatments offer a reduced recovery time and provide an alternative to daily medications and ongoing monitoring for patients who are often at high risk and do not qualify for surgery. Tricuspid valve regurgitation is a heart valve…

Daimon Cundiff’s back pain was so severe that he felt his life dwindling. This was 2021, when daily walks with his wife, Dixie, turned painful. The 71-year-old great-grandfather of five found himself squatting every 100 yards to take pressure off his throbbing hip. Numbness in his legs prevented him from going on long bike rides, too. For the active retiree in Geneseo, Illinois, these mounting…

UI Health Care is the first medical center in North America—and the second in the world—to cross over into the next phase of MR-Linac technology, offering even more precise real-time targeting of soft tissue tumors with radiation therapy. MR-Linac technology combines magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) with a linear accelerator to provide real-time tracking of a tumor during radiation therapy. In…

Nataleigh Mochal’s first breath came courtesy of the incredible neonatal team at University of Iowa Health Care Stead Family Children’s Hospital. Weighing just 1 pound, 5 ounces – about the weight of a loaf of bread – the baby girl came into the world months early, setting the stage for an incredible journey that helped shape Nataleigh into the resilient 9-year-old she is today. Nataleigh’s…