Becca Tobin found herself at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, over 4,000 miles away from her home in London. She watched as the medical staff at UAB Hospital rushed her newborn son, Jude, to the Regional Newborn Intensive Care Unit.

In 2021, Natalie Ryals, 20, playfully jumped off some stairs, something she had done many times before. Later that day, Ryals gradually started noticing some pain in her knee. As the weeks continued, the gradual pain turned into radiating pain, numbness and tingling in her foot. She soon experienced limited mobility in her knee and began to develop low back pain. Ryals began using a knee brace and crutches on a regular basis to be able to move around throughout her daily life.

When Latrice Quinn walked through the doors of UAB Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology for the first time, she was not an employee but a patient. What she didn’t know then was that the compassionate care she received would inspire her to return, not as a patient, but as a vital part of the team, ensuring other mothers felt just as supported as she had.

Each year, UAB Spain Rehabilitation Center (SRC) selects a patient, former patient, or their family member for its Ambassador of Hope Award. This special honor goes to an individual with a disability or their family member whose courage and determination inspire hope in others facing the challenges of disability. UAB Medicine employee Darryl Walker is the 2024 recipient of the award.

One Saturday morning in June, Jamie Smith, 47, began her shift at the University of Alabama at Birmingham Hospital. What Smith thought would be a normal day led to her waking up in a hospital bed three days later.

The holiday season is a time for celebration, but it is also a time for gratitude and thankfulness. This year, three families returned to UAB Hospital and UAB St. Vincent’s to personally deliver a “Gift of Gratitude” to their care team.

Days after finishing her first semester of medical school, Amaris Elston awoke in a hospital room. She felt drained as her body started to adjust to its new reality.

At 1:13 a.m. on Sept. 19, 2022, Haley Crumpton woke up out of a dead sleep to find her then 29-year-old-husband Blake completely unresponsive.

UAB Medicine employees Corey and Jenny Agricola met on the job and became friends, which led to marriage and starting a family. That sounds like a straightforward series of events, but as with any story involving great adversity, the drama is in the details. Their experiences gave the couple a unique perspective on their work and how they serve patients.`

From childhood, Sen. Luther Strange knew he was in good hands with the care he received from UAB’s surgeons. While biking with friends during his seventh-grade year in Homewood, Alabama, Strange was thrown from his bike after being hit by a traveling sedan. After the collision, Strange remembers collapsing near the intersection and his mother waiting beside him for an ambulance to take them to Children’s Hospital moments later.

Drew Ferguson, whose distinguished career in sports medicine at UAB and Children’s of Alabama spans over 40 years, understands the pursuit of excellence in health care. He has witnessed and been part of many care and safety advances for athletes, but he’s also benefitted personally from the progress of medical science. He’s received two kidney transplants at the UAB Comprehensive Transplant Institute that, in his words, have been a major part of his good fortune in life.

UAB Medicine patient Malinda Upchurch experienced years of symptoms and inconvenience caused by pelvic organ prolapse, a condition caused by a weakening of tissue and muscles in the pelvic floor. About 40% of women are affected by some form of it.