Tears shed as Driscoll reunites premature birth families with NICU staff

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EDINBURG — Tears filled 28-year-old Maria Estolano’s eyes as she held her now 7-month-old baby here at the place that helped nurse him to health.

“We’re just so thankful for everything Driscoll offered to us, they’ve always been there for us,” Estolano said with watery eyes as she looked at her baby who wore a white NICU reunion shirt gifted to them by Driscoll.

Estolano recalled her son spending 98 days, or about three months, inside Driscoll’s neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) after he was born prematurely.

“It was very scary, it was hard times but he’s here,” Estolano said. “He’s doing great.”

Now four months after leaving Driscoll’s NICU she and her baby stood nearby Driscoll Children’s Hospital Rio Grande Valley where they hosted its NICU reunion event in Edinburg.

Each child in attendance who were graduates of the NICU received a white NICU reunion T-shirt as they entered the event grounds.

Those in attendance walked around in Halloween costumes with some running around the grounds as Spider-Man, Mario and Luigi, and even princesses such as Cinderella.

One kid even attended the event dressed as a NICU doctor.

Nine-year-old Aurora Gonzalez, smiled as she looked around at the festivities, her eyes beaming with excitement as she watched the carnival rides.

“I wanted to come because I wanted to be having fun,” Aurora said.

She attended the event with her mom, Maria Gonzalez and five siblings who huddled around their mom waiting for permission to join in the activities.

“We are here because she wanted to come here, we’ve never been able to go to the Corpus (Christi) reunions but thank God we’re here today,” Gonzalez, 32, said, adding that Aurora had been wanting to attend a NICU reunion for a while.

Aurora was born at 36 weeks with spina bifida, a birth defect that occurs when the neural tube does not form properly or close all the way anywhere along the spine, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“They took her to Driscoll as soon as she was born and she was taken into surgery the next day,” Gonzalez said, noting she remained in the hospital due to the birth being a cesarean section. “The next day she (Aurora) had another surgery on her head.”

Gonzalez credited her faith and the medical staff for seeing them through the ordeal.

“It was a bit traumatizing … but thank God for the nurses and doctors — at the time it was Dr. Burke and now its Dr. Hana,” she said. “At that time they helped me understand what my daughter was born with.”

Due to her condition, Gonzalez explained that prior to the new Driscoll hospital opening in the Valley they’ve had to travel to Corpus Christi for Aurora’s surgeries.

“She is doing very well, she has always been very attentive to what is happening with Driscoll,” Gonzalez said, adding that her daughter became friends with her doctors and nurses.

Now with Driscoll having a children’s hospital in the Valley, Gonzalez explained she is grateful that Driscoll is so close to home where her daughter can receive immediate care.

Jose Garza, shared similar sentiments as he recalled his daughter having to stay in the NICU for three months.

Garza, 38, explained that he and his wife had been trying to have a baby for about 12 years before their daughter Illiana Jolin Garza was born.

After doctors conducted an emergency C-section on his wife, their daughter was born weighing just 1 pound and 4 ounces.

“It seems like it was yesterday but I mean it’s been a year already and we’re grateful that we’re here celebrating with her,” Garza said, recalling how difficult it was to go back and forth from work to the NICU. “She’s doing great.”

And then there is Rebekah Amar, 21, who was born at just 35 weeks and transferred to Driscoll Children’s Hospital in Corpus Christi when she was only 2 days old.

She explained that she was in the NICU for about six weeks.

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Now the 21-year-old is giving back to the hospital system that breathed life into her, literally, where she currently volunteers in the child life department.

“I love seeing the children and providing things for them and being that kind of support,” Amar said. “Even if I can’t be there to do medical procedures on them and things like that, at least they know they can count on me to give them activities and different things to do so I’m kind of that source of comfort.”

For Amar, volunteering with Driscoll is a full circle moment and is happy to be a part of a team that prioritizes “the meaning of family.”

“I’m glad that I’m able to give back in that way because that’s what Driscoll did for me when I was little,” Amar said.

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