THE GIFT OF HOPE PREEMIE'S SUCCESS INSPIRES PARENTS AT ICU.Byline: DENNIS McCARTHY Dennis McCarthy may refer to:
``The Dear Santa Dear Santa was a Christmas TV special that aired December 9, 2005 on Fox and November 28, 2006 on ABC Family. Plot The special focused on Santa Claus (voiced by Tom Kane) granting the wishes of children via letters from Operation Santa Letter Collection'' is available in the gift shop at Valley Presbyterian Hospital Presbyterian Hospital can refer to several places:
When your newborn daughter is fighting for her life in a neonatal intensive care unit Noun 1. neonatal intensive care unit - an intensive care unit designed with special equipment to care for premature or seriously ill newborn NICU ICU, intensive care unit - a hospital unit staffed and equipped to provide intensive care , there's nothing a parent can do but make promises and pray, Mark Heller says. Born three months premature, and weighing just 2 pounds, baby Emily could fit in the palm of your hand. So you promise that if she pulls through, you'll never forget this hospital and all the doctors and nurses working feverishly fe·ver·ish adj. 1. a. Of, relating to, or resembling a fever. b. Having a fever or symptoms characteristic of a fever. c. Causing or tending to cause fever. 2. to keep her alive. If you're a lucky man, those prayers get answered, and you have a chance to make good on those promises. Mark Heller is a lucky man. Today, Emily is a healthy 16-year-old honor student at Granada Hills High School Granada Hills Charter High School (Granada Hills High School) is a public, charter, co-educational, secondary school consisting of students in grades 9-12. The school colors are green, black, and white. . And on Wednesday, she and her dad went back to the neonatal ICU ICU intensive care unit. ICU abbr. intensive care unit ICU see intensive care unit. ICU at Valley Presbyterian Hospital - bringing with them the best Christmas present any worried parent could ever want. Hope. ``I weighed 2 pounds when I was born here 16 years ago,'' Emily tells Alba Quededo, whose son, Julio, weighed 2 pounds, 6 ounces, when he came into this world a few weeks ago. ``Look at me now,'' Emily says. ``I'm doing great. So will Julio.'' Alba cries as she thanks Emily for her kindness. It's exactly what she needed to hear as she sits in the ICU a few days before Christmas, wondering what the future will hold for the tiny baby in her arms. It holds hope. ``Here, when he gets a little older, read him this,'' Mark says, handing Alba a copy of the book ``The Dear Santa Letter Collection.'' It's a compilation of 10,000 wonderful letters to Santa that kids have sent to post offices across the country to forward to the North Pole North Pole, northern end of the earth's axis, lat. 90°N. It is distinguished from the north magnetic pole. U.S. explorer Robert E. Peary is traditionally credited as being the first to reach (1909) the North Pole. In 1926, Richard E. . With the help of Emily and her older sister, Rachel, Mark compiled the book a few years ago. It sells for $13, with $4 from each copy going to the hospital he promised to remember if his baby daughter pulled through 16 years ago. ``He's a dedicated father who is truly grateful for his daughter's start here, and this book is his way of honoring us and nurturing his daughter's philanthropic spirit,'' said Ann Grausam, executive director of the Valley Presbyterian Hospital Foundation. The book isn't a best seller; it's sold fewer than 10,000 copies. But it's not the few thousand dollars the hospital has received from its sale that's important. It's the message tucked inside its 60 illustrated pages. Kids - whether born healthy or sick, rich or poor - all want the same thing this time of the year. To catch Santa's ear. ``The amazing a·maze v. a·mazed, a·maz·ing, a·maz·es v.tr. 1. To affect with great wonder; astonish. See Synonyms at surprise. 2. Obsolete To bewilder; perplex. v.intr. thing is many of them aren't asking for presents for themselves,'' Mark says. ``They're kids asking Santa to help their parents, brothers and sisters.'' Not unlike parents sitting by an incubator incubator, apparatus for the maintenance of controlled conditions in which eggs can be hatched artificially. Incubator houses with double walls of mud, a fireroom, and several compartments each holding about 6,000 hens' eggs were developed in ancient times; the asking for their prayers to be answered. ``I wasn't sure what was going to happen when I walked in there today,'' Emily said after her visit. ``But once I saw those babies, how small they were - I was - it hit me. I knew it talking to Noun 1. talking to - a lengthy rebuke; "a good lecture was my father's idea of discipline"; "the teacher gave him a talking to" lecture, speech rebuke, reprehension, reprimand, reproof, reproval - an act or expression of criticism and censure; "he had to those parents and seeing the look in their eyes when they realized I was just like their baby 16 years ago. ``I was bringing them hope for Christmas.'' Dennis McCarthy, (818) 713-3749 dennis.mccarthy(at)dailynews.com CAPTION(S): 3 photos, box Photo: (1 -- color) Honor student Emily Heller, 16, visits the neonatal ward at Valley Presbyterian Hospital with her father, Mark. (2 -- color) Sixteen years ago, Emily Heller struggled for life at Valley Presbyterian's neonatal ICU. She was born weighing only 2 pounds. (3) Alba Quededo cradles baby Julio - born weighing just 2 pounds, 6 ounces - as she listens to Emily Heller's story of success at Valley Presbyterian Hospital's neonatal ICU. David Sprague/Staff Photographer Box: THE DETAILS |
|
||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion