LANSING, Mich. — On Saturday families of former NICU patients and their Sparrow caregivers reunited to celebrate their triumphs and reflect on the obstacles they have overcome.
Over 600 people gathered at Hawk Island Park and one RNICU Graduate say, they can't believe that they were there not too long ago.
"She's eleven months old and chunky as can be and happy and healthy," said Christina Rasmussen.
"It was hard to believe it wasn't that long ago that we were there," added Rasmussen.
Rasmussen's story is one of the many successful survivor stories from Sparrow's NICU.
FOX 47 News spoke with a Sparrow staff member and she said, seeing the children grow up is so rewarding.
"Little Carmen she was born really premature, she was one of those kids that we had in the unit for months and we got to know her family and now just to see how well she's doing, it's pretty amazing," said Jessica Pelletier, Assistant Department Manager RNICU.
Carmen Roberts was born at 1 Ibs 8 Oz as a premature baby.
Carmen and her parents spent over 100 days in NICU and they are very thankful for all of the help they got during their time spent there.
"(We) worked with a lot of nurses that walked through there. Coming from night shift to day shift just thank you we don't what we would have done without them," said Ken Roberts, Carmen's father.
One nurse tells us that even though things get tough he wouldn't want to be doing anything else.
"This job can be really hard, but it's very rewarding and I wouldn't change anything about it and I don't think i'm going to ever work anywhere else," said Tim Brown, RN.
All the families at the event were extremely thankful for the staff that helped them get to where they are today.
"Thank (you too) these people for getting us here at this stage with her, I mean, that is the main reason why she's here and doing so well," said Roberts.
The NICU cares for nearly 600 severely ill newborns throughout Mid-Michigan.
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