This summer time, Hayley Good will begin working as a nurse in the identical NICU she hung out in as a micro-preemie.
“I grew up figuring out how the nurses saved my life,” Good, 22, who graduated with a level in nursing in Might, tells PEOPLE. “I used to be informed that they tirelessly labored and advocated for me, despite the fact that they weren’t even certain if I used to be going to outlive.”
Now, she’s wanting ahead to with the ability to share her distinctive perspective about what life can appear to be after the NICU with the dad and mom of her sufferers.
“With the ability to be that hope and light-weight and simply stroll by the toughest a part of their life with them is simply very particular,” she says.
Courtesy of The Good Household
In 2001, Good’s dad and mom Heith and Pamela, of Amanda, Ohio, misplaced their first set of similar twin daughters at 23 weeks. “They didn’t survive the start,” Good says.
A yr later, they bought pregnant once more with one other set of similar twin women.
“We do not have twins on both facet of the household. They’d at all times inform me, they felt just like the Lord was giving them their twins again a yr later,” Good says.
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The nurse and her similar twin sister, Hillary, have been born on June 9, 2002. Delivered at 24 weeks, Good weighed only one lb., 9 oz. Her sister solely lived two days.
“She was so sick, she simply didn’t survive,” Good says.
Courtesy of The Good Household
For about 4 and a half months, Good was within the NICU at Ohio State College Medical Heart and likewise on the NICU at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, the place she had coronary heart surgical procedure shortly after she was born.
She grew up figuring out in regards to the loving NICU nurses who not solely took care of her and saved her, but additionally comforted and supported her whole household.
“Plenty of the nurses actually tried to wrap my dad and mom with simply consolation and love and simply caring for me to their better of their potential as a result of they did not know what was going to occur,” she says.
One other factor she grew up figuring out? She wished to develop into a nurse to pay it ahead. “That is all I wished to do,” she says.
On Might 4, she graduated with a bachelor’s diploma in nursing from Cedarville University. She begins work within the NICU at Nationwide Youngsters’s in Columbus on July 7.
“The NICU’s the place I really feel most at residence,” she says.
Savannah Whaley with SGW Images
As she prepares to start the subsequent section of her NICU journey, Good is aware of her personal historical past has ready her the wide selection of feelings in retailer.
“I believe the NICU, it may be very thrilling and also you simply consider how thrilling it’s to take care of infants, but additionally it’s the distinction between a child thriving and a child dying,” she says. “And so I believe you’re that center floor and also you get to take care of each the thriving youngster and the one which may move away. And I believe you’ve the chance to take care of the entire whole household.”
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Savannah Whaley with SGW Images
And as “arduous” as it’s for households navigating the NICU, Good hopes that she could be residing proof that “there’s hope.”
“It occurred to me, and my dad and mom have been in that spot and so they did not know what was going to occur,” she says. “I believe within the NICU it is actually arduous for them to understand and picture that their child will have the ability to go to highschool and school and graduate and achieve success.”
She provides, “that is what I am most excited for, to have the ability to share my story and present them that there’s risk, that it may very well be doable for his or her youngster too.”
