Heart & Vascular

From generation to generation, Hoag has improved — and many times, saved — lives, including mothers and daughters, fathers and sons, brothers and sisters. And grandfathers and grandsons. Sean Porter is reminded of that fact every time he looks into his grandfather’s eyes. Bill Porter had a heart attack and subsequent heart surgery by a … Read More

Angela Canlas still tears up when she thinks about her heart surgery, one year later. “I live in Nevada, but my cardiologist told me that if I were his daughter, there’s only one doctor he’d send me to and that I’d have to head to Newport Beach,” Angela said. “He said, ‘He’s the best.’” So, … Read More

Danniena (Danni) Sun thought she was too young to need major heart surgery. In 2013, Sun experienced an episode of chest pain and visited Hoag’s emergency department. As part of her work-up, she received a coronary CT scan, which uncovered a thoracic aortic aneurysm – a bulge in the wall of her aorta, the largest … Read More

“I have no doubt that if we had landed at any other hospital, Mark wouldn’t have made it,” Cindy says. “It sounds corny, but Hoag is special.”

For Sam Wolgemuth the problem was perplexing. After a day of clearing fallen trees on his vacation property in Wisconsin, Wolgemuth felt something he hadn’t ever felt before. His heart was pounding. It was uncomfortable, but not painful. It definitely wasn’t a heart attack, but then what was it? Wolgemuth’s wife, a nurse, listened to … Read More

Ken Darby was in pain. His aortic valve had grown so calcified, his cardiologist likened it to porcelain. He couldn’t walk up hills without getting winded, he was tired all the time, and a trip he and his wife, Annette, had planned to France had to be put on hold. He needed surgery. Darby had … Read More