“Tiny But Mighty”
Those words held me together many times while in Sam’s NICU at Morristown Medical Center for 126 long, terrifying days. My third child, Amelia, decided to enter the world at 24 weeks just before the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, on March 6, which is coincidentally my birthday.

Today, Amelia is happy, healthy, thriving, enrolled in a Montessori pre-school, and runs circles around her dog, big brother, and sister. It’s amazing and a miracle to say the least, what her doctors, nurses, specialists, therapists, and modern medicine were able to do for her, given her extremely fragile state, but at the same time, also makes our NICU journey feel surreal. Luckily, both us were taken care of at MMC and I remember hearing phrases like, “preemies are tiny but mighty” or “fight like a preemie” and those stick with me today, as I watched Amelia, all 640 grams of her fight harder and be strong in vulnerable times in ways I never thought possible. She is my inspiration and role model and has shown me what real strength looks like as she fought for her life.

There’s nothing that could have prepared me for this experience, or each day since discharge; the rollercoaster of emotions I feel at any given moment, or the PTSD that hits me from certain triggers. I’ve decided to channel these feelings into doing some good for others in a similar situation and give back to the amazing organization that saved my Amelia. I’m grateful to have found Project Sweet Peas, a group of like-minded parents with a similar mission as mine. I look forward to supporting families in the NICU at Morristown Medical Center in any way that I can, with my not-so tiny-but-still-very-mighty inspiration by my side.

Amelia's 4th Birthday Fundraiser