UCI Health — Orange trauma team honored for saving young woman’s arm

Accident in July 2025 required extensive capabilities that only a Level I trauma center could meet

Orange, Calif. — UCI Health Trauma and Critical Care Surgery Services team members were recently honored at the Orange County Business Council’s annual First Responders Dinner for their heroic efforts to save a young woman’s arm after it was severed in an accident in July 2025.

Honored during the event were Dr. Michael Lekawa, chief of trauma and critical care surgery at UCI Health, emergency medicine physician Dr. Carrie Chandwani, vascular surgeon Dr. Siwei Dong, orthopaedic surgeon Dr. Tyler Johnston, reconstructive surgeon Dr. Eric Wang, Colette Baeza, director of emergency and trauma services, as well as registered nurses Carly Passaglia and Reina Rodriguez.

On July 7, 2025, 24-year-old Elieah Boyd, lost her arm when a passing train clipped her bike as she was attempting to cross the tracks near her Ventura home. The surf instructor’s arm was quickly located and she was taken to a nearby hospital, where the search began for a medical center with the capabilities and skill to save her arm.

Within five minutes of getting the call from the Ventura hospital, Lekawa confirmed that the UCI Health trauma center had surgeons and operating rooms at the ready to treat her and accepted the transfer.

Trauma center capabilities

UCI Health ― Orange, home to the only Level 1 trauma center in Orange County, provides the region’s most advanced care to help people of all ages survive life-threatening injuries. Trauma, burn and critical care specialists with UCI Health deliver lifesaving care around the clock, 365 days a year. These clinicians are the region’s leading experts in the treatment of all critical and traumatic injuries.

In his role as chief, Lekawa prepared for Boyd’s arrival by managing on-the-ground logistics, including organizing a team to meet the patient at the medical center’s helicopter pad and stabilize her prior to surgery. He also gathered a team of expert clinicians and nursing staff to prepare the operating room, and confirmed that a bed was available for her recovery.

The helicopter took 45 minutes to travel to Orange and within 30 minutes of arrival, Boyd was in the operating room, where the team worked for hours to save her arm. Today, Boyd is recovering and working on regaining her strength.

“When Ms. Boyd arrived, she was awake and conversive,” Lekawa said shortly after the accident. “It was almost surreal that somebody could have that kind of injury and be that way. When it’s life over limb, we choose life. Because her life was stable, we were able to worry about reimplanting the limb.”