Santa visit lightens the neonatal ward.

Byline: JAIME LYN REA The Register-Guard

Six-week-old Justin Michael App Pace won't remember his first visit from Santa Claus, but his parents will.

They will remember the jolly old elf who paused for a picture with their blue-eyed son. And they will remember the touch of Christmas that was brought to the little corner in Justin's hospital room.

"His visit lifts the spirits," Justin's father, Steve Pace of Sweet Home, said. "We have so much to think about anyway. It's nice to bring some Christmas cheer."

Santa and his helpers visited the neonatal intensive care unit at Sacred Heart Medical Center on Saturday, bringing gifts and encouraging words to the parents who watched over their babies.

"This was a treat because I've never been in a preemie ward before," Santa, a.k.a. Rick Passon, said.

Seventeen babies who were born prematurely or suffer birth defects were staying in the neonatal unit Saturday. Most of them will remain for Christmas in the dimly lit rooms where blue-clad nurses move quietly and visitors speak in hushed voices.

The Children's Miracle Network organized Santa's visit in hopes that the families' holidays would be brightened, local director Debi White said. The network raises money to buy equipment used to treat infants and children at the hospital.

"It was very nice," Justin's mother, Christine Pace of Sweet Home, said.

The Paces will spend Christmas and New Year's at the hospital, just as they did on Thanksgiving.

Justin was born Nov. 13, 2 months early by Caesarean section surgery, and weighed just 3 pounds, 9 ounces. Now at 5 pounds, 5 ounces, he is doing well but won't go home until next month.

Santa posed for Polaroid pictures with each baby in the neonatal intensive care unit, and hospital volunteers handed out gifts of clothing and baby toys donated by Emporium Department Stores.

"We try to do (the visits) every year because it's a tough time. The parents can't take their babies home at Christmas," said White, of Children's Miracle Network. "They need to have as much normalcy as possible, especially over the holidays when they want to be home with their families."

The hospital ward's clerk, Robin Kennet, said Santa's yearly visits are special.

"It lightens up the mood in the midst of the serious care we provide," she said. "They can still have Christmas when they're stuck here with us."

Saturday marked Gregory Nelson Kane's third week in the neonatal unit. The brown-haired baby with steel-gray eyes was born at 32 weeks when his mother needed Caesarean section surgery due to diabetic complications.

He has under-developed lungs and is on a heart monitor. When he can eat better from a bottle, his chances of going home will improve, his mother, Cheryl Kane of Roseburg, said.

"We didn't know he'd have to stay in this long," she said.

She visits Gregory four times a day and is staying in the hospital's guest house. Her husband, Ethan, was able to visit his son Saturday after staying in Roseburg for a couple weeks to work and care for his two daughters.

While they held Gregory and helped him drink from a bottle, Santa delivered a stuffed bunny and a small outfit.

"It's pretty awesome for them to do that," Ethan Kane said.

For the Kanes, Christmas will be different this year. The family plans to eat dinner together in Eugene and then visit little Gregory in the hospital.

"We're going to come up here and eat out or something and postpone Christmas until he gets home," Cheryl Kane said.

Her wish for Christmas?

"I want to get my baby home," she said.