Two Hearts Intertwined: How Ochsner Gave Sara Nelles a Second Chance at Life By Maggie Serota | Photos courtesy of Sara Nelles
In 2015, 27-year-old Bay Area native Sara Nelles was thriving. She was making progress toward her MBA at Notre Dame de Namur University while working a fulfilling day job as the director of an after-school program. After earning her MBA, she aspired to begin a career in human resources. Sara was living away from her parents for the first time
in her life, having recently moved into an apartment with a friend just outside of Oakland. When she wasn’t working or studying, Sara was going out with her friends and enjoying her newfound independence. By all accounts, Sara was a vibrant young woman with a bright future ahead. “My life was blooming,” Sara recalled, “and then I got a fever that
lasted for two weeks.” Sara was born with a rare congenital liver disorder called Biliary Atresia which affects the bile ducts. She underwent a Kasai procedure to facilitate bile drainage when she was six weeks old and led an otherwise healthy life until she got sick—very sick—at age 27. The decline in her liver function was
Sara Nelles and her parents, Mitch and Janet Nelles, along with her sisters Miriam Hillman (far left) and Erica Nelles (far right).
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Spring 2021
