Finley's Story | Two Generations of NICU Warriors

Finley was born at just 22 weeks, weighing 1lb 5oz. "She was so small and had wires everywhere," her mother Andrea recalls. “I remember looking at her and she wasn’t how I expected her to look. I expected her to look worse than what she did based off pictures I had seen. She was still so tiny.” She remembers a moment after Finley was born where the medical team was having issues intubating her, and they told Andrea that if they couldn’t do it, they would bring Finley over to lay on her chest. However, they were able to successfully intubate her. Andrea, a NICU baby herself at Nationwide Children's back in 1986, knew she saw a fighting spirit in Finley. And fight she did.

While things have been difficult, Finley’s mom is thankful that it was not worse and, in the grand scheme of things, thinks Finley is doing amazing. The care Finley received in the Small Baby Program at Nationwide Children’s Hospital helped improve her outcome, just as it has improved the outcomes of many other babies born extremely premature. The Small Baby Program employs a dedicated approach to small baby care that embraces the needs of both the premature baby and the family. As a result, premature babies at Nationwide Children’s are doing more than surviving. They’re thriving.

“I have nothing but good things to say about our care team,” Andrea says. “I feel like they explained everything well, even in the beginning when there might be a prognosis that was grim.” Research and improvements to technology are vital to stories like Finley’s. In 2021, preterm birth affected about one of every 10 infants born in the United States and the preterm birth rate rose 4% in 2021, from 10.1% in 2020. Just ten years ago, the survival rate for babies born at 23 weeks, babies like Finley, was only 10%. Today, however, the survival rate for those babies is 78%.

This holiday season, when you donate to Nationwide Children’s, you will light up the hospital lawn with glowing butterflies for patients to see and in doing so, light up their life. When a gift is made, butterflies will illuminate across the front lawn of the main hospital. Help put a light on research and best outcomes for children everywhere this holiday season. Please give.