12/05/2025
Please congratulate Leslie — she's doing great and living life to the fullest after three open-heart surgeries as a child!
As a newborn in 1990, Leslie went to the doctor with flu-like symptoms. Her pediatrician believed there might be a hole in her heart and sent the family to our Oakland hospital, where our team diagnosed her with multiple congenital heart defects, including a ventricular septal defect, atrial septal defect and a complete atrioventricular canal defect.
She had three heart surgeries with us as a baby, toddler and young child to correct the defects. Since her surgeries, Leslie has been doing great!
“I had such good surgeons,” she says.
Leslie loves hiking, paddle-boarding and enjoying the outdoors with her husband, an aerial firefighter for CAL FIRE. She also serves on the patient and family advisory board of the Adult Congenital Heart Association: “My passion is advocating for people like me.”
