A Mother’s Gift: The Foundation for a Lifelong Passion in Writing
Every mother has her unique way of guiding and teaching her children. My mother was no exception. She was instrumental in teaching me to read and write even before I started my formal education. Her nurturing and guidance have made me who I am today: a passionate writer and the proud author of the L.A. Loft Blog and Entar.com. As we celebrate Mother’s Day, I want to share my story as a tribute to my mother and all the amazing moms out there who shape their children’s lives in profound ways.
The Wise Woman and Her Free-Range Approach
My mother was not the type to constantly instruct me on what to do or not to do. Instead, she was more of a free-range mom who believed in giving me space to learn and grow at my own pace. She offered valuable advice when needed, and time has revealed that she was, indeed, a wise woman. Her approach allowed me to develop a strong sense of independence and curiosity, which later translated into my passion for reading and writing.
The California Home
The Gift of Reading and Writing
Before I even set foot in my first grade classroom, my mother had already taught me to read and write at a third-grade level. She recognized the importance of a strong foundation in literacy and spent countless hours nurturing my abilities. This early start in my education not only made me feel confident and ready for school but also sparked a love for reading and writing that has stayed with me throughout my life.
The L.A. Loft Blog: A Testament to a Mother’s Love
In addition to Loft Blog readers, friends and clients, my mother’s guidance and support led to my success. Her belief in me and her dedication to my education laid the groundwork for my passion for writing. This Mother’s Day, I want to acknowledge her impact on my life and express my gratitude for her unwavering love and support.
A Gift for All Mothers
This Mother’s Day, let’s celebrate the wisdom, love, and dedication of all mothers, both present and those who are no longer with us. Each mother has her unique way of shaping her children’s lives, and their influence lasts a lifetime. So here’s a heartfelt gift to all moms out there: Buy a home in May, get $5,000 cash from your broker, the Corey Chambers Team, at closing. Happy Mother’s Day!
Though my mother is no longer here, her legacy lives on in my writing and my love for reading. Her wisdom and love have made a lasting impact on my life, and I am forever grateful. As we celebrate Mother’s Day, let’s remember to honor and appreciate the incredible women who have made us who we are today. Happy Mother’s Day to all the wise, loving, and dedicated mothers out there. Your impact is immeasurable, and your love knows no bounds.
Corey Chambers Team raising $25,000 for CHLA
Supporting Moms at Children’s Hospital: How Your Real Estate Referrals Can Help Families in Need
There are many ways to make a positive impact on the lives of families with sick children. At Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, the dedicated staff goes above and beyond to support mothers whose children are fighting for their lives. As we approach Mother’s Day, it’s important to remember that many moms are by their child’s bedside, focusing on their well-being rather than on their own special day. One way you can help these moms and their children is through your real estate referrals. Read on to learn how your referrals can make a difference in the lives of these families.
The Mission: Raising $25,000 for Children’s Hospital Los Angeles
Our team is on a mission to raise $25,000 for Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. The funds raised will support the Children’s Recovery Center, where kids battling cancer and other debilitating diseases receive life-saving care. The Recovery Center relies on sponsorships and donations to operate, and your real estate referrals can help ensure that more children have access to this vital resource.
Children receiving care at the Children’s Recovery Center are 300% more likely to enter remission when they can access its services. With your help, we can make a difference in the lives of these young patients and their families.
How Your Referrals Help the Kids
When you refer someone to our real estate sales team, not only do they benefit from our award-winning service, but we also donate a substantial portion of our income from every home sale to Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles. This means that your referrals directly contribute to the well-being of children in need.
How to Make a Referral
Referring someone is easy. Just visit entar.com/kids or call us directly at 213-880-9910. You can rest assured that your referrals will receive excellent service, as well as our exclusive guarantees:
Home Sellers: We will sell your home at your price, or we’ll buy it ourselves.*
Home Buyers: If you are not completely satisfied with your home within 24 months of purchase, we will buy it back or sell it for free, your choice.*
Why Your Referrals Matter
Your referrals not only help us provide top-notch real estate services, but they also support a worthy cause. Children’s Hospital Los Angeles relies on the generosity of people like you to continue its life-saving work.
As we honor mothers this month, let’s not forget the moms who are fighting for their children’s lives. Your referrals can make a difference for these families and help Children’s Hospital continue its vital mission.
*Conditions apply. Please inquire for details.
A Lifelong Connection: Why I Support Children’s Hospital Los Angeles
Children’s Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA) is a beacon of hope for countless families in need of specialized care for their children. As a native of the Greater Los Angeles Area, I have always felt a deep connection to this incredible institution and its mission. In this article, I will share my personal story of why I support Children’s Hospital Los Angeles and how my team and I work together to contribute to their cause.
A Personal Connection to Children’s Hospital Los Angeles
We are grateful for your support in our effort to raise $25,000 for Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. By referring friends, family, and associates to our real estate sales team, you’re not only helping them find their dream home, but you’re also giving back to a meaningful cause. Together, we can make a difference in the lives of children and their families. Visit www.ReferralsHelpKids.com or call us at 213-880-9910 to make a referral today.
Growing up in the Greater Los Angeles Area, I was born in Los Angeles County at St. Francis Hospital. My connection to Children’s Hospital Los Angeles began when a young person close to our family suffered from a severe illness and received treatment at CHLA. This experience opened my eyes to the vital work carried out by the dedicated healthcare professionals at the hospital. As a result, I felt compelled to contribute to their mission in any way possible.
The Common Cause: Healing Young Lives
Children’s Hospital Los Angeles brings together hard-working healthcare professionals from the Los Angeles area, united by a common cause – to help young people overcome the health challenges life sometimes presents. As a native of the area, I take immense pride in supporting the incredible work carried out by the CHLA team. My team and I have made it our annual goal to raise money and donate a portion of our income to help CHLA in their quest to heal young people when they need it the most.
Our Commitment to Supporting CHLA
My team and I are dedicated to providing outstanding results for buyers and sellers referred to us by our past clients. We have found that Children’s Hospital Los Angeles shares a similar commitment to their patients. Since their services rely on sponsorships and donations, we are delighted to contribute and proud to support their life-changing work.
Children’s Hospital Los Angeles is an institution that has touched the lives of countless families in the Greater Los Angeles Area. My personal connection to CHLA has inspired me and my team to support their mission in any way we can. By raising funds and donating a portion of our income, we aim to contribute to the incredible work they do to heal young lives. Together, we can make a difference and help CHLA continue to provide hope and healing to those who need it the most.
20 Years After Facing Retinoblastoma, a Father Fights for His Son’s Sight
As a child, Jake Olson lost both his eyes to retinoblastoma. When his infant son was diagnosed, the family returned to CHLA for leading cancer treatment with a vastly different outlook.
Jake Olson is no stranger to adversity. As a survivor of bilateral retinoblastoma—a rare childhood cancer that took both of his eyes and his sight by age 12—he built a life defined by resilience, going on to become an athlete, motivational speaker, and advocate.
But nothing could prepare him for the news he received in January 2025: His newborn son, Rowan—just 6 days old—had been born with the same eye cancer.
“It was absolutely devastating,” Jake recalls. “We’d been praying he didn’t get the retinoblastoma gene. There was a 50% chance he wouldn’t, but sure enough, he did.”
Fortunately, Jake knew exactly where to turn. He’d received his own cancer treatment at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, one of the leading retinoblastoma centers in the world. It didn’t matter that he and his wife, Audrey, now lived 3,000 miles away in Florida.
Within days, they were on a plane to Los Angeles, headed straight for CHLA.
“There was no other choice in our minds,” Jake says. “We knew we had to come to CHLA for Rowan’s treatment, even if it meant traveling across the country.”
There was no other choice in our minds. We knew we had to come to CHLA for Rowan’s treatment, even if it meant traveling across the country. Jake Olson
There was no other choice in our minds. We knew we had to come to CHLA for Rowan’s treatment, even if it meant traveling across the country. — Jake Olson
Using a special camera that shows all the layers of the retina, Jesse Berry, MD, Chief of Ophthalmology and Director of the Retinoblastoma Program, found two tiny, cancerous tumors—one less than a millimeter in size—in both of Rowan’s eyes.
But there was good news, too: Today’s treatments look vastly different from those Jake had as a child.
CHLA has been at the forefront of many of those treatment advances. Under the leadership of the late A. Linn Murphree, MD—Jake’s ophthalmologist as a child—the hospital helped pioneer diagnostic tools and treatment techniques that are now standard practice across the globe. Dr. Murphree also played a pivotal role in identifying the gene mutation linked to retinoblastoma.
Over the past decade, Dr. Berry has continued that legacy, pioneering a groundbreaking liquid biopsy that uses the clear fluid in the front of the eye to detect retinoblastoma.
The test became clinically available in 2024 and not only enables clinicians to more safely and efficiently diagnose the cancer, but also to find key markers that can predict the severity of the disease and help guide treatment.
“What Dr. Murphree implemented and built here, and what Dr. Berry continues to grow, is the crown jewel of treating retinoblastoma,” Jake reflects. “There truly is no other place I’d rather take Rowan.”
A generational battle
Although Rowan’s tumors were tiny—only a few experts in the world have the capability to detect such early-stage tumors—one of them was particularly risky. It grew next to his optic nerve, an essential link between the eye and the brain.
Fortunately, Rowan’s liquid biopsy didn’t show any aggressive markers that would indicate rapid growth or risk of spreading to other parts of the body.
His oncologist, Rima Jubran, MD, MPH, MACM—who also treated Jake as a child—explains that the father and son are not the first such familial pair CHLA has treated for the rare cancer.
“We see and treat patients with different presentations of retinoblastoma all the time, which is something that very few centers in the country can say,” she notes. “We have a full multidisciplinary team that’s dedicated to this disease.”
Working together, the care team quickly developed a plan. Rowan would receive a combination of systemic and intravitreal chemotherapy as well as targeted laser treatments that aimed to shrink the cancer, stop it from spreading outside the eyes, and preserve Rowan’s vision.
We see and treat patients with different presentations of retinoblastoma all the time, which is something that very few centers in the country can say. We have a full multidisciplinary team that’s dedicated to this disease. — Dr. Rima Jubran
30 years of progress in retinoblastoma care
Jake’s experience couldn’t have been more different than Rowan’s: As an 8-month-old in the 1990s, Jake’s parents noticed a strange “glow” in his left eye. Often the first outward sign of disease, this glow indicates a tumor is already growing behind the pupil.
By the time Jake was seen at CHLA, he had advanced disease with high-risk, difficult-to-treat tumors in both eyes. The best option at that stage was to remove the 8-month-old’s left eye and deliver systemic chemotherapy to treat the cancer in the remaining eye.
Over the next 12 years, Jake went in and out of remission nine times before his care team ultimately made the devastating decision to remove his second eye. Dr. Berry recalls that throughout Dr. Murphree’s life, he cited removing Jake’s second eye as one of the hardest days of his career.
“Rowan will have a significantly different ocular outcome than Jake did,” says Dr. Berry. “He also has such strength in his parents. They understand this disease and can walk through it with him.”
“We like to think that a tough case like Jake’s has helped empower advances in treatment and set Rowan up for this success,” says Rowan’s mom Audrey. “That’s not scientific, but everything regarding Rowan’s care has sort of fallen into place as we’ve gone through this journey.”
A difficult chapter
Throughout 2025, Jake, Audrey, and Rowan made the trip to CHLA nearly every month for monitoring, laser therapy, and systemic chemo, which can often result in extreme nausea, fatigue, bruising, bleeding, and hair loss.
“It’s been very emotional,” Jake says. “Laying in the chemo room with him put me right back there myself. It’s so difficult to watch your baby go through that.”
After six rounds of treatment—six trips from Florida to California and back—Rowan’s care team shared the good news: His tumors had shrunk enough that he’d only need monitoring and local treatment to the eye. No more systemic chemo.
The best part: He’d maintained his vision.
On Dec. 16, 2025, just ahead of the holiday season and Rowan’s first birthday, he rang the end-of-treatment bell to celebrate.
While the family still travels to CHLA regularly, Jake and Audrey describe this milestone as a massive relief. “There’s been a lot to celebrate even through all this hardship,” says Audrey. “Ringing the bell felt like a big step toward the end goal.”
Resilience is genetic
“I personally know what it’s like to go through this, so it meant the world to me to see Rowan reach this milestone,” Jake says. “It’s something that should be celebrated. He’s only a baby, but the strength and resiliency he’s built here will carry him far.”
If Rowan is anything like his dad, he’ll only continue to cultivate that strength and resiliency as he grows.
Jake continued to pursue his passions after losing his eyes—even the ones that felt impossible, like playing football. In 2015, he became the first blind Division 1 football player as a long snapper for the USC Trojans; In 2022, he was the only fully blind athlete to compete in the U.S. Adaptive Open. He’s shared his story on countless stages over the last two decades and continues to channel his love of sports into programs that support retinoblastoma treatment and research.
“Jake truly is an astounding spirit,” says Dr. Berry. “He has so much light around him. Somebody who’s lost both their eyes could easily be bitter or blameful. But he’s a very spiritual person, and he believes that some greater good will come from this.”
While Jake and Audrey will undoubtedly pass their mutual love of sports on to Rowan someday, right now they most look forward to watching him be a typical baby.
“That’s what makes me smile the most,” Jake says. “He learned to walk recently. He just celebrated his first Christmas and his first birthday.”
“And knowing he’s able to see … I mean, that’s why we did this, right? To save his sight. To save him. To enjoy those moments where he’s using his eyes to be a happy kid.”
I personally know what it’s like to go through this, so it meant the world to me to see Rowan reach this milestone. It’s something that should be celebrated. — Jake Olson
Anyone you know who might be making a move — refer them to the Corey Chambers real estate team. Not only will they benefit from our award winning service, but this very worthy cause will benefit as well. Corey Chambers 213-880-9910 helpkids@coreychambers.com entar.com.com/kids
February, as you know, brings in Valentine’s Day. A holiday where many of us scramble to make sure those close to us KNOW we love them! After all – Love is a many-splendored thing. While Love for our family and friends is the most important, I think it’s also essential to express my heartfelt desire for helping people find a home where their heart is.
My favorite love description is: Love is patient, Love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, and it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, trusts, always hopes, and always perseveres. I could go on with all kinds of examples like – “Love Your Neighbor as Yourself,” even go all business-like and say “ how much we love your referrals” and more.
But, the point is we do love helping people sell and buy real estate. And those people say we are good at it!
Please know that my team and I are eager to help anyone you know wanting to make a move. So much so that we are willing to make an offer that your referrals will LOVE – AND – the Kids at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles will love too.
Your referrals help the kids!
Go Serve Big!!! Investing In Our Southern Californian Kids
If you or a friend are thinking about selling, make sure to choose a real estate company you can trust! A real estate company with experience, proven results and a give-back philosophy!
AND REMEMBER… Your referrals help the Kids…
We are on a mission to raise $25,000 for CHLA. We do this by donating a portion of our income from homes we sell. As you know, Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles does great work in helping kids fight through and survive nasty life-threatening diseases like cancer, Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, leukemia and others. They also lead the way in helping kids come back from spinal cord injuries as well as early diagnosis of autism. Last year alone, Children’s helped over 1,000,000 kids right here in Los Angeles. BUT, Children’s relies on sponsorships and donations to provide their elite level of care, and to keep families’ expenses to a minimum. So YOUR REFERRALS REALLY DO HELP THE KIDS…
Who do you know considering buying or selling a home you could refer to my real estate sales team?
Not only will they benefit from our award-winning service, but you can rest assured we are also donating to a very worthy cause.
Go Serve Big!!! Investing in the Children of Los Angeles.
A Real Estate Company that Gives Back!
Children’s Hospital LA leads the way in serving kids one patient at a time.
We are still boldly on a mission to raise $25,000 for the Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles, and we are making progress! We do this by donating to them a portion of our income from homes we sell. As you know, CHLA does AMAZING work in helping kids fight through and survive nasty diseases like cancer, Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, leukemia, and others. They also lead the way in many other fields.
They can provide this care and keep patient costs to a minimum due to donations and sponsorships. We are proud to support the Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles!
As in the attached story, Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles provides the best pediatric medical care available anywhere in the country. To do that, CHLA needs donations to continue its leading-edge care. We proudly donate a portion of our income from real estate sales to CHLA to help them continue serving the needs of those who most need it in our Los Angeles!
Who do you know considering buying or selling a home you could refer to our real estate sales team? Not only will they benefit from our award-winning real estate service, but a very worthy cause will also benefit as well. To refer anyone considering buying or selling a home just give me a call or pass on my number. 213-880-9910.
Thank you in advance for your referrals!
You and your referrals mean more than ever to my team and me. As we move forward thru this winter, please know we are extremely thankful for you and you being a special part of our business.
Go Serve Big!!! — Corey Chambers
Entar® Real Estate and Investment Technologies!
P.S. I copied and pasted the story below from the CHLA website. It better tells the story of the work they are doing.
MAKING A DIFFERENCE
As a leading charitable hospital, CHLA depends on sponsorships and donations to continue its leading-edge service. We proudly donate a portion of our income from real estate sales to CHLA to help them continue serving the needs of those who most need it in Los Angeles!
A real estate company with experience, proven results and a give-back philosophy!
Over the years of helping many families sell their homes and/or buy another, we have met some wonderful, loving, caring people. People like you! So your referrals can rest assured that, not only will they get the award-winning service we are known for and the guarantee to back it up, but that a solid portion of the income we receive will go toward helping the kids.
Refer your friends, neighbors, associates or family members considering making a move:
You can go to www.entar.com/kids and enter their contact info online or forward the link to someone you know considering a move.
Of course you can always call me direct as well at 213-880-9910
Why I support Childrenʼs Hospital Los Angeles
I grew up right here in the Greater Los Angeles Area, born in Los Angeles County at St. Francis Hospital. I remember when I first heard about a young person close to our family suffering from a serious disease and getting treated for that at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. It was then that I began to pay closer attention to the work they do at that hospital. Since then, I have learned that it is a collection of hard-working health care professionals, most making their home right here in the Los Angeles area, all coming together for a common cause. That cause is to help young people overcome unfortunate health issues that life sometimes throws our way. Being a Los Angeles Area California native, I take pride in supporting in a way that I can do the good work these people do at Children’s. My team rallies around our annual goal of raising money and donating portions of our income to help Children’s in their quest to heal young people when they need healing. My team and I are committed to providing outstanding results for buyers and sellers referred to us by our past clients. I have discovered that Children’s Hospital Los Angeles shares a similar commitment to their patients. And since their services survive on sponsorships and donations, we are happy to contribute and proud to support them.
Sincerely,
Corey Chambers
Playing His Heart Out
Born with four congenital heart defects, Dylan’s family turned to CHLA’s world-class Heart Institute to save his life. Today, the 19-year-old is living his best life as an elite collegiate athlete.
by Monica Rizzo
Sports have been important in Dylan’s life for as long as he can remember. And so have sports metaphors, which Dylan—a 6’6” middle blocker for Pepperdine University’s men’s volleyball team—aptly applies to his daily life situations.
“Whenever I’m playing, I’m not worried about anything. It’s my escape,” Dylan, 19, says. “In volleyball, no one person can carry the team. Every player has to touch the ball in order to win.”
The teamwork mentality also applies to the lifesaving care Dylan has received in the Heart Institute at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles since he was a newborn. While in utero, doctors detected Dylan had coarctation of the aorta, a congenital condition that restricts blood flow.
CHLA’s nationally ranked Heart Institute conducts more than 15,000 patient visits and performs more than 800 cardiothoracic surgeries on average annually. Around 30% of its heart surgery patients are less than a month old, and more than 50% of CHLA’s neonatal heart surgeries are high-complexity cases, making CHLA one of the largest complex surgical programs in the country.
Dylan’s parents, Ginny and Ryan, met with Vaughn Starnes, MD, Chief of the Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Co-Director of the Heart Institute, and H. Russell Smith Foundation Chair in Cardiothoracic Surgery at CHLA.
“I was still pregnant, and the plan at the time was to have Dylan and then have a catheter procedure a few days later,” Ginny says.
That plan changed when Dylan was born. Doctors discovered three additional defects—a leaky tricuspid valve, an atrial septal defect, and an enlarged right atrium—that required immediate action.
“It was scary,” Ginny says. “A helicopter came and flew us to CHLA. Four days later, Dylan had open heart surgery. Dr. Starnes performed the surgery and he and his entire team were amazing. They made us feel so confident that they were going to take care of this.”
Dylan’s recovery went smoothly and for the next decade, he was the picture of health. He enjoyed going to school, being active, and playing sports, especially baseball. At age 11, it was discovered at an annual checkup that Dylan’s tricuspid valve was leaking again and would require another surgery.
“We were shocked because Dylan looked great and seemed healthy,” Ginny says.
Clutch under pressure
Although he needed to undergo another procedure, Dylan continued to play baseball, buoyed by the support of his teammates who had #DYLANSTRONG embroidered on their caps. The camaraderie of the boys and their will to win fueled the team’s success—and Dylan’s confidence.
“I knew what was going on but not the fullness of what it all entailed, so I was trying to focus on baseball as much as I could, especially as we got closer to the date of the surgery,” Dylan says, recounting his pinch-hit double that scored two runs.
“In that moment, I remember wanting to do the best for my team before I had to have the surgery and would not be able to play,” Dylan says, noting that he looks back fondly on that day not just because of his success on the field, but because of how his teammates made him feel. “For them to support me with what I was going through and help me carry my burdens that year, that was really cool.”
Ten days after that game, Dylan was admitted to CHLA to undergo surgery to repair the leaky tricuspid valve. Nervous and frustrated, Dylan prayed with his family and leaned into his faith to pull him through the difficult time.
“I knew God was going to provide for me again and make this a safe surgery. That was the sole thing that made it the easiest to get through,” Dylan says, only to find himself a year later experiencing some discomfort while running the mile during gym class.
“I felt lightheaded and my heart was beating ridiculously fast,” Dylan says. “My heart was beating over 200 beats per minute.”
Dylan returned to CHLA where he underwent a cardiac ablation procedure where specialists used radiofrequency energy to destroy the area of the heart that was causing the rapid, irregular heartbeats known as arrhythmias.
The trust Diego and his family placed in our team was instrumental in helping the CHLA CAR-T program become what it is today. — Dr. Emily Hsieh
Love at first spike
Despite his health challenges, Dylan isn’t timid to go all-in when he plays sports. In 2019, when his enthusiasm for baseball was waning, he decided to participate in a volleyball clinic and ended up falling in love with the sport. In 2023, his club team won the national championship, and in 2025 his high school team won the state championship.
“I’m not going to hold back just because I have this condition,” Dylan says, proud to be a member of one of the top collegiate men’s volleyball teams in the country. “I don’t want coach to think of me as less than or that he can’t depend on me. I’m going to go as hard as I can and if I feel something I’ll speak up.”
“He’s doing great,” says Pierre Wong, MD, a member of Dylan’s cardiology care team at CHLA since he was an infant. “He’s playing high-level volleyball at Pepperdine University, and he handles it no problem. I’m confident he will be able to handle whatever comes his way.”
Adjusting to the rigors of being a highly competitive student-athlete has been a challenge, Dylan admits. His 14 to 16-hour days consist of solo and team workouts from 6:30 a.m. until 11 a.m., followed by five hours of classes (he’s a business administration major), and several hours of homework before his head hits the pillow.
“The biggest difference between high school and college is eating,” Dylan says, laughing as he looks over at his mom. “In high school I’d come downstairs after doing my homework and food was ready on the table. Now, I have to walk to the cafeteria, wait for the food to be made, eat, then come back to grind out my homework.”
Grateful heart
Despite the grueling schedule, Dylan relishes every bit of his life—and doesn’t take any of it for granted. Over the years, Dylan and his family have supported CHLA’s Heart Institute and participated in the hospital’s annual Walk & Play L.A. community event. Last year, Ginny’s company, Newport Knits, created a special sweater and donated a portion ofthe sales to benefit CHLA’s 10th annual Make March Matter- Opens in a new window. She plans to offer a new design for this year’s campaign.
When Dylan thinks back to the long days at CHLA when he was recovering from his second surgery, he credits the nursing staff, therapy dogs, and a special visitor that made his hospital stay more bearable and helped motivate him to get better.
“My mom went to USC, and we grew up being huge USC football fans,” Dylan says, noting that while he was in the hospital his father ran into then-USC head football coach Clay Helton. “My dad asked Coach Helton if he could send me a video. He not only sent me a video, he also came to CHLA the next day and dropped off a care package with all this USC gear. Then he invited me to a team practice and gave me tickets to a game that season. That kind of shifted the trajectory of my rehab process where I wanted to get better so I could go watch USC and do stuff again. He was extremely kind.”
Each day, Dylan approaches life “from a place of gratitude. CHLA is the sole reason I am here today,” he says. “The staff are exceptional at what they do, but they are even more exceptional as people, and that is so rare to find. There’s nothing I can do to repay them.”
The feeling is mutual, says Dr. Wong.
“It’s so gratifying to be a cardiologist and see a baby grow up to be a wonderful young man like Dylan is, leading a meaningful life,” Dr. Wong says. “To feel like I played a small role, giving parents the opportunity to have a child they can watch grow up and make memories gives me great satisfaction. To me, there’s no higher calling.”
Learn more about the Heart Institute at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles.
How You Can Help
Refer your friends, neighbors, associates, or family members considering making a move: www.entar.com/kids or call Corey at 213-880-9910
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