Corey Chambers Real Estate Newsletter April 2023 | The SoCal Home

No April Fools News: Tax Season Is Upon Us!
www.ReferralsHelpKids.com

TAX DAY — UGH!!!

I read that we are working from January 1st through June 30th of each year to pay all of our taxes.  Before that, 100% goes to the government in some form or fashion. It pays for some kind of government worker, work program, social program, defense, project,  health care, common good. Whatever you want to call it, April 15th is TAX day, the deadline for filing your federal income taxes.

So in celebration of this particular time of year, let’s talk TAX relief. If you received last month’s letter from me, you would recall our goal of trying to raise $25,000.00 for Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles, CHLA. But – we need your help, and I believe you can benefit from the TAX relief.

Just down the street from where I am typing this, Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles has a whole house of kids fighting for their lives. For them and their parents’ taxes are not “top of mind,” health is. Living is. Surviving is. As you may have heard, Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles is front and center in the fight against nasty diseases that destroy or cut short the lives of Children. We are thankful to have such a fantastic facility close by, doing such great work to help heal and save young people.  So even though we are trying to figure out how much we owe the taxman, many are simply hoping they can be here to actually pay taxes. So we here at Entar have resolved to do what we can to help.

Please know that my team and I are eager to help anyone you know wanting to make a move. So much so that we are willing to make an offer that your referrals will LOVE – AND – the Kids at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles will love too. 

Your referrals help the kids!

If you or a friend are thinking about selling, make sure to choose a real estate company you can trust! A real estate company with experience, proven results, and a give-back philosophy!

AND REMEMBER… Your referrals help the Kids…

We are on a mission to raise $25,000 for CHLA. We do this by donating a portion of our income from homes we sell. As you know, Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles does great work in helping kids fight through and survive nasty life-threatening diseases like cancer, Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, leukemia and others. They also lead the way in helping kids come back from spinal cord injuries as well as early diagnosis of autism. Last year alone, Children’s helped over 1,000,000 kids right here in Los Angeles. BUT, Children’s relies on sponsorships and donations to provide their elite level of care, and to keep families’ expenses to a minimum. So YOUR REFERRALS REALLY DO HELP THE KIDS…

Who do you know considering buying or selling a home you could refer to my real estate sales team?

Not only will they benefit from our award-winning service, but you can rest assured we are also donating to a very worthy cause.

Go Serve Big!!! Investing in the Children of Los Angeles.

A Real Estate Company that Gives Back!

Children’s Hospital LA leads the way in serving kids one patient at a time.

We are still boldly on a mission to raise $25,000 for Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles, and we are making progress! We do this by donating to them a portion of our income from homes we sell. As you know, CHLA does AMAZING work in helping kids fight through and survive nasty diseases like cancer, Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, leukemia, and others. They also lead the way in many other fields.

They can provide this care and keep patient costs to a minimum due to donations and sponsorships. We are proud to support the Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles!

As in the attached story, Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles provides the best pediatric medical care available anywhere in the country. To do that, CHLA needs donations to continue its leading-edge care. We proudly donate a portion of our income from real estate sales to CHLA to help them continue serving the needs of those who most need it in our Los Angeles!

Who do you know considering buying or selling a home you could refer to our real estate sales team? Not only will they benefit from our award-winning real estate service, but a very worthy cause will also benefit as well. To refer anyone considering buying or selling a home just give me a call or pass on my number. 213-880-9910.

Thank you in advance for your referrals!

You and your referrals mean more than ever to my team and me. As we move forward thru this winter, please know we are extremely thankful for you and you being a special part of our business.

Go Serve Big!!! — Corey Chambers

EntarÂŽ Real Estate and Investment Technologies!

P.S. I copied and pasted the story below from the CHLA website. It better tells the story of the work they are doing.

MAKING A DIFFERENCE

As a leading charitable hospital, CHLA depends on sponsorships and donations to continue its leading-edge service. We proudly donate a portion of our income from real estate sales to CHLA to help them continue serving the needs of those who most need it in Los Angeles!

A real estate company with experience, proven results, and a give-back philosophy!

Over the years of helping many families sell their homes and/or buy another, we have met some wonderful, loving, caring people. People like you! So your referrals can rest assured that, not only will they get the award-winning service we are known for and the guarantee to back it up, but that a solid portion of the income we receive will go toward helping the kids.

Refer your friends, neighbors, associates or family members considering making a move:

You can go to www.ReferralsHelpKids.com and enter their contact info on line or forward the link to someone you know considering a move.

Of course, you can always call me direct as well at 213-880-9910


Why I support ChildrenĘźs Hospital Los Angeles

I grew up right here in the Greater Los Angeles Area, born in Los Angeles County at St. Francis Hospital. I remember when I first heard about a young person close to our family suffering from a nasty disease and getting treated for that at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. It was then that I began to pay closer attention to the work they do at that hospital. Since then, I have learned that it is a collection of hard-working health care professionals, most making their home right here in the Los Angeles area, all coming together for a common cause. That cause is to help young people overcome unfortunate health issues that life sometimes throws our way. Being a Los Angeles Area California native, I take pride in supporting in a way that I can do the good work these people do at Children’s. My team rallies around our annual goal of raising money and donating portions of our income to help Children’s in their quest to heal young people when they need healing. My team and I are committed to providing outstanding results for buyers and sellers referred to us by our past clients. I have discovered that Children’s Hospital Los Angeles shares a similar commitment to their patients. And since their services survive on sponsorships and donations, we are happy to contribute and proud to support them.

Sincerely,

Corey Chambers

A Lifesaving Bridge—Then a New Heart—for Baby Ciara

Too fragile to wait for a heart transplant, the 4-week-old needed a breakthrough to survive. Shortly before Christmas 2021, she became the first patient born with a single ventricle to receive a ventricular assist device at CHLA—and continues to beat the odds.

By Eunice Wallace

Every time Candace cradles her daughter, Ciara, she sees the small scar on the right side of her neck, and has a flashback.

“I go straight to that moment when she was on ECMO and just how tiny she was being hooked up to all those wires,” she recalls. “I will never get that image out of my head.”

At just 4 weeks old, Ciara was placed on extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO), a process by which a machine takes over the functions of the heart and lungs when the organs are failing, or need extra support. When she was born, the right side of her heart was severely underdeveloped, and minutes after her birth at a local hospital, Ciara was transported to Children’s Hospital Los Angeles via helicopter.

“Very early on we noticed that not only did she have congenital heart disease, but the muscle in her heart just didn’t seem to be normal,” says Jennifer Su, MD, a cardiologist in the Heart Institute at CHLA, who suspected Ciara had pulmonary atresia and cardiomyopathy. “Either of those things can cause heart failure, and she had both.”

‘Why me? Why my baby?’

Two months earlier, Candace had been on track with a normal pregnancy. Then at 34 weeks, her obstetrician noticed something unusual on a routine ultrasound and referred her to a specialist. Her baby had a defective heart—single ventricle disease—and was given a 50% chance to live.

“I was all over the place,” recalls Candace. “I have three other healthy children, so it was just a lot of fear, worry and doubt, and a lot of questioning, ‘Why me? Why my baby?’ But I knew I wanted to keep her, so I said, ‘Let’s do all that we can.’”

With a meticulous birth plan in place, which culminated in the baby being airlifted to Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, Candace welcomed Ciara a few weeks later. She held her daughter for 20 minutes before the infant was taken to the hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit, then transported to CHLA, where a team of specialists was waiting.

To reduce the total number of open-heart surgeries she would need throughout her life, Ciara was whisked to the Cardiac Catheterization Lab. There, a stent was placed in her heart to keep the blood flowing to her lungs. Soon after, however, it became clear that her heart muscle was incredibly weak. She needed a new heart—but could hers last long enough until a replacement was found?

A first at CHLA

The odds were stacked against Ciara. Approximately 35 to 40% of children with single ventricle disease die within the first year of life, and just 1 in 3 make it to transplant.

A ventricular assist device (VAD) can serve as a lifesaving bridge during the crucial waiting period. Tubes attached to the heart are connected to an external pump that can be dialed up or down to provide the right amount of blood flow that a patient needs. But children with single ventricles—especially infants—typically have not been considered good candidates because of the risks.

“It became very apparent that she had gone into acute heart failure and that she wasn’t going to be able to live without mechanical support,” explains cardiothoracic surgeon John David Cleveland, MD. “So we elected to place the VAD in sub-optimal circumstances.”

Five days before Christmas in 2021, Dr. Cleveland implanted the VAD, reversing the configuration of the device’s cannulas to create the most optimal blood flow for Ciara’s anatomy.

“It was so incredibly innovative, and this is something that our surgeons often have to do—look at the patient as an individual and tailor the surgical approach to what they feel is best for the patient,” says Dr. Su, the hospital’s Director of Cardiomyopathy and Ventricular Assist Devices.

The procedure marked the first time a patient with a single ventricle received a VAD at CHLA, which has since been performed at the institution once more.

Peace of mind

Almost immediately after receiving the VAD, Ciara stabilized. Her breathing tube was removed, and specialists focused on rehabilitation and nutrition over the next seven months as she waited for a transplant. Then came the call: There was a match. Baby Ciara got her new heart. A month later—having spent nearly the first year of her life in the hospital—Ciara finally went home.

Now 15 months old, Ciara is exceeding expectations. Ciara’s dad, Jamar, and Candace were told it could take her a while to hit certain milestones, but within the first week of being discharged, Ciara started eating solid foods. She’s able to drink out of a cup and stand up, too. But because of the transplant, she’s on several immune-suppressing medications and more vulnerable to getting sick. With three school-age siblings in the house, there’s never a shortage of Lysol wipes and hand washing.

“At first it was scary—extremely scary—but now we go day by day,” says Candace. “And she does not let anything stop her from being a typical baby. Ciara gives me hope and peace of mind because I see how happy she is.”

A Moment to Celebrate

VADs were originally designed for adults, with the first version for children approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 2011. Performing this landmark procedure at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles was a well-coordinated effort from the beginning.

“When you take on something that nobody has done at your institution, it requires a lot of buy-in from all the players involved in the case,” says Dr. Cleveland. “When it came down to recognizing that the only other option for Ciara was death, everybody agreed: This is what we have to do.”

“I’m incredibly proud of our entire team,” he says. “Her life is a testament to so many different people taking care of her and, not only that, dedicating years of their lives to train and be ready for something like this. It’s a moment to celebrate.”

Candace wholeheartedly agrees. If Ciara had been born five years ago her outcome would have been completely different. This fact has left Candace feeling full of gratitude and awe.

“Science has come so far,” she says. “When I think back to how tiny and sick she was and where she is now, it really is a miracle.”

Learn more about the Heart Institute at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles.

How You Can Help

Refer your friends, neighbors, associates, or family members considering making a move: www.ReferralsHelpKids.com or call Corey at 213-880-9910

Copyright Š This free information is provided courtesy of L.A. Loft Blog with the information provided by Corey Chambers, Broker, DRE 01889449. We are not associated with the seller, homeowner’s association, or developer. For more information, contact 213-880-9910 or visit LALoftBlog.com Licensed in California. All information provided is deemed reliable but is not guaranteed and should be independently verified. Properties are subject to prior sale or rental. This is not a solicitation if the buyer or seller is already under contract with another broker.

Corey Chambers Real Estate Newsletter March 2023 – The SoCal Home

Giving Back and Paying It Forward

Sunny Skies

All I can say is WOW! 

I am busy helping people find their new homes, thinking of how grateful I am for the value you bring to my real estate business. While looking around out in the world, I see blue skies emerging, and the recent cold days will soon be only a memory.  It looks like Spring has sprung. For many across the country, it’s still cold, grey, and snowy! It very well could hail and snow more in the foothills around LA. But one thing is for sure, this winter season is coming to an end. It does every year without fail.

Just like the weather seasons come and seasons go, so do the seasons of life. I’m sure you have noticed as I have the older I get the faster they move by. These “seasons of life” go by so fast, my hope is that you enjoy each one. Yes, some will be hot and others will be cold highs and lows. The lows we want to move by quickly, the highs we want to stay in forever sometimes.

Please know that my team and I are eager to help anyone you know wanting to make a move. So much so that we are willing to make an offer that your referrals will LOVE – AND – the Kids at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles will love too. 

Your referrals help the kids!

Go Serve Big!!! Investing In Our Southern Californian Kids

If you or a friend are thinking about selling, make sure to choose a real estate company you can trust! A real estate company with experience, proven results, and a give-back philosophy!

AND REMEMBER… Your referrals help the Kids…

We are on a mission to raise $25,000 for CHLA. We do this by donating a portion of our income from homes we sell. As you know, Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles does great work in helping kids fight through and survive nasty life-threatening diseases like cancer, Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, leukemia and others. They also lead the way in helping kids come back from spinal cord injuries as well as early diagnosis of autism. Last year alone, Children’s helped over 1,000,000 kids right here in Los Angeles. BUT, Children’s relies on sponsorships and donations to provide their elite level of care, and to keep families’ expenses to a minimum. So YOUR REFERRALS REALLY DO HELP THE KIDS…

Who do you know considering buying or selling a home you could refer to my real estate sales team?

Not only will they benefit from our award-winning service, but you can rest assured we are also donating to a very worthy cause.

Go Serve Big!!! Investing in the Children of Los Angeles.

A Real Estate Company that Gives Back!

Children’s Hospital LA leads the way in serving kids one patient at a time.

We are still boldly on a mission to raise $25,000 for Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles, and we are making progress! We do this by donating to them a portion of our income from homes we sell. As you know, CHLA does AMAZING work in helping kids fight through and survive nasty diseases like cancer, Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, leukemia, and others. They also lead the way in many other fields.

They can provide this care and keep patient costs to a minimum due to donations and sponsorships. We are proud to support the Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles!

As in the attached story, Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles provides the best pediatric medical care available anywhere in the country. To do that, CHLA needs donations to continue its leading-edge care. We proudly donate a portion of our income from real estate sales to CHLA to help them continue serving the needs of those who most need it in our Los Angeles!

Who do you know considering buying or selling a home you could refer to our real estate sales team? Not only will they benefit from our award-winning real estate service, but a very worthy cause will also benefit as well. To refer anyone considering buying or selling a home just give me a call or pass on my number. 213-880-9910.

Thank you in advance for your referrals!

You and your referrals mean more than ever to my team and me. As we move forward thru this winter, please know we are extremely thankful for you and you being a special part of our business.

Go Serve Big!!! — Corey Chambers

EntarÂŽ Real Estate and Investment Technologies!

P.S. I copied and pasted the story below from the CHLA website. It better tells the story of the work they are doing.

MAKING A DIFFERENCE

As a leading charitable hospital, CHLA depends on sponsorships and donations to continue its leading-edge service. We proudly donate a portion of our income from real estate sales to CHLA to help them continue serving the needs of those who most need it in Los Angeles!

A real estate company with experience, proven results, and a give-back philosophy!

Over the years of helping many families sell their homes and/or buy another, we have met some wonderful, loving, caring people. People like you! So your referrals can rest assured that, not only will they get the award-winning service we are known for and the guarantee to back it up, but that a solid portion of the income we receive will go toward helping the kids.

Refer your friends, neighbors, associates or family members considering making a move:

You can go to www.ReferralsHelpKids.com and enter their contact info online or forward the link to someone you know considering a move.

Of course you can always call me direct as well at 213-880-9910


Why I support ChildrenĘźs Hospital Los Angeles

I grew up right here in the Greater Los Angeles Area, born in Los Angeles County at St. Francis Hospital. I remember when I first heard about a young person close to our family suffering from a nasty disease and getting treated for that at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. It was then that I began to pay closer attention to the work they do at that hospital. Since then, I have learned that it is a collection of hard-working health care professionals, most making their home right here in the Los Angeles area, all coming together for a common cause. That cause is to help young people overcome unfortunate health issues that life sometimes throws our way. Being a Los Angeles Area California native, I take pride in supporting in a way that I can do the good work these people do at Children’s. My team rallies around our annual goal of raising money and donating portions of our income to help Children’s in their quest to heal young people when they need healing. My team and I are committed to providing outstanding results for buyers and sellers referred to us by our past clients. I have discovered that Children’s Hospital Los Angeles shares a similar commitment to their patients. And since their services survive on sponsorships and donations, we are happy to contribute and proud to support them.

Sincerely,

Corey Chambers

Meet the New Student at ‘Abbott Elementary’: CHLA Spina Bifida Patient D’Kai

The exuberant 5-year-old has become a representative for kids with differences in his role on ABC’s acclaimed comedy series.

By Jeff Weinstock

Story and photos courtesy Children’s Hospital Los Angeles

The journey from spina bifida patient to child actor isn’t typically done in one week’s time, but after charming the producers of “Abbott Elementary,” 4-year-old D’Kai found his life’s course swiftly set off in a new direction. Even if he hadn’t been waiting for his big break, he was happy to take it when it arrived.

Quick backstory: D’Kai’s mother, Jazmin, learned that “Abbott Elementary,” the celebrated ABC comedy series about a group of teachers at an underfunded public school in Philadelphia, had released a very specific casting call. The show needed a child with a disability who used a wheelchair.

D’Kai met both requirements. Born with spina bifida, an incomplete development of the spine, he had been treated at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles since infancy. He lacked one attribute—acting experience. But he had other qualities: He was a bright kid with a lot of personality, and being 4, he was up for anything.

“We jumped on the opportunity,” Jazmin says. “I talked to him about it, and he was like, ‘OK, I’ll try it.’”

They submitted pictures, interviewed with the casting team, and D’Kai, as they say in his new trade, booked it. “Everything happened in a week,” Jazmin says.

It’s a nonspeaking role. D’Kai, now 5, is visible in the background of some classroom scenes. But who knows where it may lead? Beware, Brad Pitt’s career launched with a Pringles commercial. D’Kai’s breakthrough makes perfect sense to his doctors at CHLA, who call him bubbly, engaging and ideal for the screen. To see him on their TV sets in the cast of “Abbott Elementary” drew little surprise, but a lot of gratification.

“Children with different abilities, especially children from minority communities, is not something we see often on television,” says orthopedist Melissa Bent, MD, one of several physicians who manage D’Kai’s care. “So having D’Kai be part of that even bigger movement of visibility, to me, was very rewarding.”

The night D’Kai made his first appearance on the show (search Season 2, Episode 1) was “a joy,” Jazmin says. “I was just amazed. ‘Oh my goodness. You’re really on TV!’ He was so happy. He was like, ‘Look! It’s me, Mom! Look at me! I’m right there!’

When the spine doesn’t close

You learn something new every day, and today that new something will be sequelae. “It means the consequences of the diagnosis for a medical condition,” Patricia Castillo, MD, says.

A specialist in the Spina Bifida Program at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, Dr. Castillo has treated D’Kai since April 2018, when he was 4 months old. There are multiple versions and degrees of spina bifida; D’Kai has the most severe form, called myelomeningocele, wherein the spine does not close properly, causing what looks like a bubble to form at the opening, sitting on the baby’s back, outside the skin and its contents unprotected by the spinal column.

“What ends up happening is,” Dr. Castillo says, “those contents in that bubble—the portion of the spinal cord and the nerves that are attached there—are exposed to amniotic fluid during the pregnancy, and that can lead to severe complications. With the form of spina bifida and the level of spina bifida that D’Kai has, it’s not uncommon to see all of the sequelae that he does have.”

Those sequelae afflicting D’Kai include hydrocephalus, the backup of cerebrospinal fluid in the brain; incontinence of the bowel and bladder; and lower-body weakness to the point of paraplegia—the inability to feel or move one’s legs.

“We don’t have treatments that repair spinal damage or the differences that patients are born with,” Dr. Castillo says. “What we try to do is optimize what we can to help them live functional and productive lives.”

To that end, D’Kai has a shunt installed in the ventricles of his brain to carry away the excess cerebrospinal fluid that accumulates there. He uses a catheter to drain his bladder after he wakes in the morning and before he goes off to sleep at night, but otherwise goes without it. Though he has no feeling below the knees, he can walk some with the aid of leg braces and a walker. He was born with clubfoot that was corrected through treatment.

Dr. Bent handles D’Kai’s orthopedic care through the Jackie and Gene Autry Orthopedic Center, including working to ensure his feet, now straight, don’t turn back inward. She says her primary goal with children with spina bifida is to get them to adulthood able to carry out life’s daily functions, without any permanent deformities developed in their knees, feet or back.

“He’s doing great,” she says of D’Kai. “His foot hasn’t relapsed. He’s had no problem with his braces. He doesn’t have any fixed deformities. So orthopedically, he looks fantastic.”

‘That’s not all you are’

From the moment she was told his diagnosis when she was 20 weeks pregnant, Jazmin resolved to create a meaningful life for D’Kai, and not one whose course was determined by his disease.

“My mindset was, it’s not going to define him—period,” she says. “Yes, you have a disability, but that’s not all you are. You have a disability and nobody sees anything else? I wasn’t going to let him feel like that. It’s not going to be a crutch. ‘Oh well, because I’m in a wheelchair, I can’t’—no, that’s not going to be you. I made sure he has a positive attitude and that’s how we’re raising him.”

“He walks with a walker or with assistance from us, but he gets on the floor and he crawls everywhere and he doesn’t need help. He’ll tell you, ‘I got it.’ He plays with his toys. He loves music and books and different things. So he’s not limited. I just try to make sure I’m doing all I’m supposed to do so he’s OK and safe and happy.”

Dr. Castillo sees no reason to downsize expectations for D’Kai. She says spina bifida generally doesn’t affect cognitive function or cause intellectual deficits, even if it creates the need for a shunt to be placed in the brain.

“I have big hopes for D’Kai,” she says. “He can do what he wants to do. We have spina bifida patients who go to college if that’s what they want to do, have jobs if that’s what they want to do. A lot of my patients are in general education classrooms and doing what they want to do.”

Production on “Abbott Elementary” continues until February. Afterward, Jazmin will learn if the show wants D’Kai back for next season. “I don’t know anything yet,” she says.

In the meantime, the family is spreading D’Kai’s spotlight. “My mom talks him up a lot. We could be at the grocery store, and people will see him and say, ‘He’s very handsome.’ And then she’ll tell them, ‘He’s on ‘Abbott Elementary.’

“Everything is a very new experience,” Jazmin says, “He’s having a good time. He’s still the same person, bubbly. The funny thing is, he’ll go to his regular school and tell them, ‘I’m a star!’ But he’s joking. He’s still got to go to school and do what he’s supposed to do. No attitude change. No bigheadedness. He’s still a little boy.”

You can hear D’Kai nearby being, as billed, bubbly. “I’m a star! I’m a star!” he says. You figure that’s something his mother knew long before the world found out. — Story and photos courtesy Children’s Hospital Los Angeles

Learn more about the Spina Bifida Program at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles.

How You Can Help

Refer your friends, neighbors, associates, or family members considering making a move: www.ReferralsHelpKids.com or call Corey at 213-880-9910

Copyright Š This free information provided courtesy L.A. Loft Blog with information provided by Corey Chambers, Broker, DRE 01889449. We are not associated with the seller, homeowner’s association or developer. For more information, contact 213-880-9910 or visit LALoftBlog.com Licensed in California. All information provided is deemed reliable but is not guaranteed and should be independently verified. Properties subject to prior sale or rental. This is not a solicitation if buyer or seller is already under contract with another broker.