Karsten Moran
The most senior and junior attendees at this year’s reunion of the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit were former preemies Janelle Bain-Lewis (1 pound, 10 ounces) and Sarah
Grufferman (2 pounds, 2 ounces), both 17, and Andrew Barcelo (3 pounds) and his twin sister Ava (3 pounds, 8½ ounces), both six months old.
A Heartwarming Homecoming
The Smallest of Patients Gather on Campus for the Largest of Celebrations
Barbara Grufferman’s storybook pregnancy
ended with a sudden and persistent yanking
feeling in her abdomen. At 27 weeks, her due
date nearly three months away, Grufferman
was in premature labor. Despite efforts by obstetricians at N YU Langone Medical Center’s
Tisch Hospital to slow down the process, Sarah
Morgan Grufferman arrived the next day,
weighing in at 2 pounds, 2 ounces, her foot no
larger than her mother’s big toe.
Sarah’s lungs, brain, heart, and immune
system were underdeveloped. Infection was
a constant threat. She remained in a precarious condition in The KiDS of N YU Neonatal
Intensive Care Unit (NICU) for almost three
months. Despite the oxygen tubes, IV lines,
monitors, and frequent emergencies, the staff
made Sarah’s parents feel welcome and needed. “Every day was another drama,” Barbara
recalls. “Once, Sarah stopped breathing and
turned absolutely gray. I was panicked. The
nurse said, ‘Don’t worry, Mommy’, and tapped
her foot. She started breathing. ‘You can do
that next time, Mommy,’ she said.” Sarah required 11 blood transfusions and experienced
numerous episodes of apnea.
Now 17 years old, as healthy and vibrant
as any other high school senior, Sarah addressed her fellow NICU graduates and their
parents and siblings at the 13th “We Believe
in Miracles” Reunion, held on campus on
Sunday, June 26th. As babies squealed and
squawked, Sarah addressed a large crowd in
Farkas Auditorium. She paid tribute to the
doctors and nurses who saved her life and the
lives of so many others. Quoting Lady Gaga,
she advised her fellow NICU grads to stay
positive: “I’m on the right track, baby. I was
born this way.”
The NICUs at Tisch and Bellevue, which
treat more than 1,100 critically ill newborns
each year, serve as state-designated regional perinatal centers. They are recognized
nationally for their excellence and innovation, with over 90% survival rates for infants
weighing less than 3 pounds (compared to a
national average of 85%).
The reunion, cosponsored by KiDS of
N YU and Community of Care, a NICU graduate parent group, provides former patients
and their families with a chance to catch up
with each other and the hospital staff, including Karen Hendricks-Munoz, MD, chief of
the Division of Neonatology, who has headed
the NICUs since 1990, and Carol Prendergast,
EdD, director of Family-centered Care for 17
years. “It’s a very emotional day for me,” says
Dr. Hendricks-Munoz, associate professor of
pediatrics. “You develop a tremendous lifelong bond with these families. We love to see
our graduates and hear about their lives, what
sports or instruments they are playing and
what colleges they are planning to attend. You
just look at some of them, recalling their time
in the NICU, and say, ‘Wow. Truly unbelievable. They are daily miracles. ”
As the graduates, ranging from 6 months
to 17 years old, busied themselves at craft tables
with assistance from medical student volunteers, had their photos taken, and enjoyed lunch
in the sunny courtyard, their parents chatted.
“You really learn about people when you’re all
under duress together in the NICU,” says new
father Avi Kravitz, RN, a NICU nurse himself.
Holding his 8-month-old daughter, Charley,
born at 1 pound, 6 ounces, he explained that “as
horrible as the experience was, some wonderful
friendships came out of it. This is a chance for
us to reconnect.”
Ten-year-old Molly Martin, in pigtails and
a pink dress, patiently helped younger graduates glue magnets onto foam. Born at 24 weeks
and weighing 1 pound, 8 ounces—the edge of
viability—Molly’s is one of the more remarkable survival stories. Doctors pumped her with
caffeine for a year to keep her heart beating. She
has attended each reunion since birth. “I enjoy
it,” she says with a smile. “People come up to
me and say that I give them hope.”
Her father, Sean, choked up and dabbed
his eyes as he recalled the harrowing months
his firstborn spent in Tisch’s NICU. “We almost
lost Molly three or four times,” he explains.
“She had a serious brain bleed, and the doctors
told us that she would never be normal. Look
at her. She’s a champion Irish step dancer. They
say dads forget very easily and moms don’t. But
every one of her achievements gives me a tear in
the eye.”
