Paul Warshawsky is an intensive care physician, but that did not prepare him for the agony of watching his prematurely born first child in an incubator, surrounded by beeping and flashing machines.
Leora Warshawsky was born 10 weeks early weighing only two pounds, six ounces, at the Jewish General Hospital (JGH) on Aug. 5, 2003. She spent 51 days in its neonatal intensive care unit (NICU).
Today, she is a healthy, happy 12-year-old student at Herzliah High School. Her father is now chief of adult critical care at the JGH.
They and Leora’s mother, Deborah, and two younger sisters helped celebrate World Prematurity Day at the JGH last fall, and boost the auxiliary’s Tiny Miracle Fund. Launched two years ago, the fund is more than halfway to its goal of raising $500,000 for medical equipment for the hospital’s new NICU, scheduled to open this month in Pavilion K.
Despite his medical training, Warshawsky admitted he found that being a parent of a newborn whose health was so precarious was unnerving. But the skill and compassion of the NICU’s team helped.
“I remember Leora developed an infection and was very sick,” he said at the event. “[Dr. Apostolos Papageorgiou, the NICU’s chief for over 40 years] said, ‘Don’t worry, everything will be fine.’ Those words provided palpable relief.”
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Parents of infants in the NICU could visit at any time and be present during medical rounds and ask questions, something that, at the time, was not the practice in the adult ICU. As a result of his experience, Warshawsky changed that, recognizing that a family’s presence is also vital in the healing of critically ill adults.
Also attending the celebration was the Ballard family. Maria and Stephan’s three 12-year-old sons, triplets, together weighed just 7-1/2 pounds at birth.
Maria, who taught math at Bialik High School, was shocked when, after more than five years of marriage, she was not only pregnant, but about to have three children at the same time.
That joy turned to anguish when they came into this world on May 5, 2003, after 29 weeks of pregnancy. Alex, the smallest, was only 1.45 pounds and spent three months in the NICU, two weeks longer than his brothers.
Maria was spending 10 hours a day with them. “Throughout all this time, the doctors and nurses were there supporting and encouraging us,” she said.
Today, Thomas and David attend Loyola High School, and Alex is at Centennial Academy. All three are crazy about the robotics program at their schools. Thomas plays water polo and David basketball, while Alex enjoys reading.
“Thomas, David and Alex are delightful children,” their mom said. “They are happy boys who are well liked by their peers.”
The four preemies held photos of themselves taken when they were in incubators.
Much of the money the Tiny Miracle Fund has raised has been collected in a “piggy bank,” an obsolete incubator standing in the JGH lobby. The auxiliary runs a purple-themed campaign, selling plastic bracelets, teddy bears and other gifts to remind the public of the need to care for the hospital’s tiniest patients. About 10 per cent of births worldwide are pre-term.
Between 600 and 700 babies are cared for in the Jewish General’s NICU each year, the majority of them preemies, said Dr. Lajos Kovacs of the NICU staff. The JGH has one of the largest birthing centres in the province – about 4,500 deliveries take place there annually.
Despite the strides made in the survival and development of premature babies, each one who is successfully treated is “truly a little miracle,” he said.
The Tiny Miracle Fund is chaired by Roz Rinzler, whose son Josh, now 11, was also a preemie cared for at the JGH.
He was born 24 weeks into her pregnancy, weighing a little over a pound. He was in the NICU for six months, including 109 days on a respirator.
“It was an agonizing and helpless experience to have no control over your child’s outcome,” she said. Josh was almost two months old when she held him for the first time.
Today, Josh is doing just fine, she said.
The new NICU, which will replace the current facility, will provide much-needed space, including 40 beds, and the latest equipment, benefiting its multidisciplinary team and young patients.