LIFE AFTER NICU:
BABY ASHER TURNS 1
Little Asher’s arrival was anything but typical. He was born 14 weeks premature and weighed
less than 2 pounds. He also had paralyzed vocal cords and a serious heart problem known as a
Patent Ductus Arteriosus (PDA), where abnormal blood flow occurs between two major arteries
connected to the heart.
Asher spent 161 days at Renown, 126 of them in our Neonatal Intensive Care Unit and 20 in our
Pediatric ICU. He underwent ligation surgery to repair his PDA, as well as a tracheotomy, an incision
in the windpipe made to relieve an obstruction to breathing. According to Asher’s mother, Charlene,
while their time here was obviously trying, it was also a time of great support.
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“The nurses here are phenomenal. They taught me how to feed Asher through his port (a small medical
appliance installed beneath the skin) so that I could finally bring him home,” says Charlene. “They helped
me find the strength to make the very best of a tough situation.”
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Today, Asher is home and happy, and recently celebrated his first birthday.
RENOWN NEONATAL ICU FACTS:
specifically for newborns
39 beds
in the Neonatal ICU
15
Giraffe Omnibeds, specialized incubators
and infant warmers all-in-one
Neonatal Transport Team bringing infants
with serious conditions to Renown
from outlying communities
ONLY
The region’s
Children’s Miracle Network Hospital
200 NICU “graduates” each year
C2 Ventilators for premature babies
2 Hamilton
(coming soon)
ASHER WAS NAMED “PREEMIE OF THE YEAR”
IN A NATIONAL CONTEST IN OCTOBER 2014.
born each year
4,146 babies
at Renown Children’s Hospital
CONVENIENT, COMPREHENSIVE CARE