SAVANNAH, GA. (WTGS) — Memorial Health Children’s Hospital welcomed dozens of familiar faces back for a unique reunion that included babies, kids, and adults.
The kids were once patients in the neonatal intensive care unit.
On Sunday, they got to see their physicians, nurses, clinical teams, and each other.
It was an opportunity for families and healthcare providers to celebrate the milestones NICU children have accomplished.
Many families showed up to play games, eat food, and display their love and support for the doctors and staff who helped them out when they were patient at Memorial Hospital.
Many of the babies bad to spend weeks in the NICU, which caused families to grow a close bond with care teams and each other.
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The Horsley family is no stranger to the NICU.
Daughter Arlo was born at 29 weeks.
Now at almost 8 months, the family is thriving.
They even call Arlo their ‘mighty little mushroom’.
“I think when you enter the NICU, it is one of the scariest moments of your life. Because you are not sure exactly what is going to happen to your baby. You build, especially when we had such a long stay, you build a community and a family with these people. To leave and continue to keep in contact with them and be able to share her success and see the doctors hold her from 2 pounds to now 12 pounds is amazing. She truly is a miracle. We look forward to this every year,” said Emily Horsley, the mother of baby Arlo.
Baby Arlo weighed only 2 pounds when she was born and spent 76 days in the NICU.
During their stay, Arlo had respiratory support because her lungs weren’t fully developed.
Parents and grandparents celebrated the miracle of life by wearing matching t-shirts.
“I wanted to make some shirts to make this event feel special. It is a special day to remember. Hopefully, we can save them and wear them every year,” said Horsley.
Like other families in attendance, the family was able to reconnect with their NICU nurse Rosalind who helped Arlo during her stay at Memorial Hospital.
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“I love this happening, every year it makes it so worth it to see the progress they (NICU babies) have. I see her as this tiny little sick baby from the first time I saw her, now she is eating all of her bottles, happy, and healthy. It is so nice to see them every year as they get older. There is one baby that comes and she just runs up to me now. It makes the job worth it,” said Nurse Rosalind.
With each passing year, the reunion only gets bigger and better.
“This is a great event because it can be scary in the NICU and a little bit of a rollercoaster. This is the happiness at the end of that,” said Carolyn Gendye, a Neonatologist at Memorial Hospital in the NICU. “Our patients become like family. We keep up with them through social media, and this event where we get to see them in person and make those milestones. We talk about birthdays and new events in their life. We bring our family here, so it is like a family reunion.”
With the growth of the event, this year’s reunion was taken off the hospital campus to the Savannah Children’s Museum.
This year marked the 45th anniversary, and next year the Hospital plans to have the location be off campus again for capacity.
Memorial Hospital Officials told WTGS that each year they see an average of 1,100 NICU patients, and this year’s reunion was the most packed yet.
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