Giving Well - Fall 2012 - (Page 5)

HELP SAVE LIVES Find out how you can support Erlanger’s healing mission and make sure stories like this always have a happy ending. Call 423-778-6600 or visit to learn more. erlangerfoundations.org Advanced treatment at Erlanger saved the lives of Karlie Zimmerman and her daughter, Mackenzie Grace. A Miraculous Recovery When Karlie awoke from the coma, she was happy to see her mom and her sisters. But she didn’t remember Matt, and she had no idea that she had just had a baby. Karlie was suddenly 19-year-old Karlie instead of the 31-year-old woman, ﬁancée and new mother. It was hard on everyone, but especially Matt. “Everything upstairs with Karlie was drama and crazy,” Matt says. “The NICU was my little happy place.” While Matt held, fed, diapered and loved on his daughter in the NICU around the clock, his thoughts and prayers never left Karlie. But he knew she was in good hands with her mom and sisters and the droves of people praying for all of them. As Karlie’s body, heart and brain continued to heal, some days were good. Some were tolerable. Others were just plain awful. But, Karlie says, not remembering was the most difﬁcult thing. Then the day ﬁnally came for Karlie to see her daughter. As her mom sat with her holding one iPad, a nurse in the NICU held another. Using FaceTime video calling, Karlie saw the beautiful face and strawberry blond hair of her daughter light up the screen. Soon after, Karlie was well enough to visit and hold her daughter in the NICU. And, as a family, Karlie and Matt were able to spend the night in the NICU’s Care by Parent room, where they could feed Mackenzie, change her diapers and shower her with love while the baby’s vital signs were being monitored at the nursing station. In fact, the night in the Care by Parent room would later become Karlie’s ﬁrst real memory since leaving for the hospital more than a week earlier. Happy to Be Home On the 10th day, the family of three went home—together. Because her brain hadn’t completely healed, Karlie had to take time to get to know her baby and her new life. “I carried her. I grew her,” Karlie says. “Then I was looking at her like, ‘Who is that?’ ” Fortunately, she has had plenty of help from her mother, sisters, Matt and a whole host of friends and family. Karlie still doesn’t remember the days she spent in the hospital, but she does remember everything before and after. And she now knows her little girl better than anyone. “She’s happy,” Karlie says. “She found her smile, and it takes over her whole face.” Karlie’s body still has to heal, but for now she and Matt are enjoying all the ﬁrsts that come with parenting. “Holding her for the ﬁrst time without all the wires was like holding her for the ﬁrst time again,” Matt says. “Now everything is how I imagined, plus a little bit more.” 1 Special Care for Special Babies T.C. ompson Children’s Hospital at Erlanger takes care of the sickest and smallest newborns in the region’s only Level III neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), the highest level assigned by the state of Tennessee. e 58-bed unit is staﬀed with specially trained neonatologists, nurses and neonatal nurse practitioners. Plus, the young patients have immediate access to pediatric and surgical subspecialists. And for parents, there’s a Care by Parent room. In this homelike setting, parents can feed and care for their newborn throughout the night while their baby’s vital signs are monitored at the nursing station. SHARE your story of hope and healing at erlangerfoundations.org/stories 5 http://www.erlangerfoundations.org http://www.erlangerfoundations.org/stories

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Giving Well - Fall 2012

Giving Well - Fall 2012
Becoming a Family
Erlanger Is a Caring Neighbor and a Trusted Friend
Find Out How Much Erlanger Gives Back to the Community

Giving Well - Fall 2012