Team NorCal Strikes Gold at 2012 Transplant Games of America
08.12.2012
Organ-transplant recipients (from left) Jill Nolen, Anna Modlin, Isabel Stenzel Byrnes and Anabel Stenzel won gold in the women's 4x50 medley relay at the 2012 Transplant Games of America.
This year's Transplant Games took place at the end of July in Grand Rapids, Mich., where roughly 1,000 organ recipients competed in a variety of athletic events, including basketball, badminton, cycling, tennis, swimming, volleyball and track and field. Nolen, Modlin and twin sisters Stenzel Byrnes and Stenzel were among the 22 athletes comprising Team Northern California, which took home 36 gold medals, 13 silver medals and eight bronze medals.
About half the team's athletes underwent transplant operations at either Stanford Hospital or Lucile Packard Children's Hospital. Modlin, Stenzel Byrnes and Stenzel had lung transplants at Stanford Hospital. Nolen underwent two liver transplants at Pacific Presbyterian Hospital in San Francisco, where her lead surgeon was Carlos Esquivel, MD, PhD, who later joined the faculty at Stanford. Stanford doctors have provided continuing care for all four members of this relay team.
About Stanford Health Care
Stanford Health Care, located in Palo Alto, California with multiple facilities throughout the region, is internationally renowned for leading edge and coordinated care in cancer, neurosciences, cardiovascular medicine, surgery, organ transplant, medicine specialties and primary care. Stanford Health Care is part of Stanford Medicine, which includes Lucile Packard Children's Hospital Stanford and the Stanford University School of Medicine. Throughout its history, Stanford has been at the forefront of discovery and innovation, as researchers and clinicians work together to improve health, alleviate suffering, and translate medical breakthroughs into better ways to deliver patient care. Stanford Health Care: Healing humanity through science and compassion, one patient at a time. For more information, visit: StanfordHospital.org.