NICU Miracle Times Two: Micro-Preemies Celebrate 40th Birthdays
JILYN RICHMOND: We were there the same time, almost
the exact same weight, and we're 30 days apart.
And I'm like, I've got to find this girl.
LORIELLEN BYRON: We started talking in August,
but today was our first day meeting each other.
HANNS HAESSLEIN: First of all, I want
to say happy birthday to both of you.
Your success, you know, really warms both Andy and my hearts
because in those days, it was not a given.
ANDREW WERTZ: Every baby born at this gestation and size
was an adrenaline rush.
It was a work in progress, and I think
we were in the forefront of being able to get things right.
SUBJECT 1: It's a wonderful thing
that these doctors were able to save my baby.
SUBJECT 2: We were really blessed
to be in the right place at the right time.
JILYN RICHMOND: I am so grateful that Sutter
was around way back when.
And it's been just neat to be able to be here
with these people to help save more lives.
(SINGING) --to you.
Happy birthday to you.
JILYN RICHMOND: We got to enjoy our 40th birthday together,
so it's like a reunion after 40 years.
We got to meet the doctors, and we
got to tour the NICU for the first time since like,
we were there.
And we got to see all of the advancements for the babies
to be able to come further.
LORIELLEN BYRON: It was really neat to be able to be here
and to meet Dr. Wertz and Dr. Haesslein in person.
We've heard stories of us in the NICU,
but to actually meet them for a different connection.
CRAIG SWANSON: There's been radical transformation
in every aspect of society, and medicine
is no different from that.
Now, you know, we expect these babies to survive.
GUSTAVO SOSA: We developed better ventilators
and learned a lot about their nutrition, which
is incredibly important.
So all of these things together have
helped us take better care of these babies who
were born earlier.
ANDREW WERTZ: It is very humbling
to see babies that were very, very fragile, very small, very
early that now are themselves mothers.
That, to me, is profoundly humbling.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Jilyn Richmond was born in 1983 at 1 pound 6½ ounces on May 3, and Loriellen Byron was born at 1 pound 6 ounces just a month later on June 2, and they spent a couple of months together in the first neonatal intensive care unit at “Sacramento’s baby hospital” at Sutter Medical Center.
According to studies, babies born under 1½ pounds (classified as “extremely low birth weight”) during those early years of neonatal care had less than a 30% survival rate. But, due to the passionate, compassionate care of Sacramento’s pioneering neonatologist Andrew Wertz, M.D., and perinatologist Hanns Haesslein, M.D., along with a team of dedicated nurses, both girls not only survived, but thrived.
The two women recently found each other online, with both still living in the Sacramento area — Jilyn, a mother of two, and Loriellen, a high school special education instructional aide. For their combined 40th birthday celebration, they were reunited with Dr. Haesslein, Dr. Wertz and nurses, but also met each other for the first time in person. Their parents also reconnected with their care teams and shared recollections of their time in the groundbreaking NICU. They shared heartfelt thanks to the physicians and staff for saving their girls’ lives.
In addition, since none of them have seen how NICUs have progressed in the past 40 years, they were treated to a tour of the Sutter Medical Center, Sacramento’s neonatal intensive care unit, which is the largest and most advanced NICU in Northern California. It's part of the Sutter Children’s Center, which is a comprehensive pediatric hospital at Sutter Medical Center, Sacramento.
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