Whether they were helping you get through difficult times or just performing a well-timed favor, you’ve probably told a friend, “Thanks! You’re a life saver!” There’s someone who can say this to her twin sister because of what happened at a hospital in Worcester, Massachusetts in the weeks after they were born.
Brielle and Kyrie Jackson were 12 weeks premature when they were born and scarcely weighed two pounds apiece. The tiny twins were placed in separate incubators in the hospital’s neonatal ICU. A couple weeks later, Kyrie was doing really well, but Brielle was struggling, screaming and frequently turning blue. Gayle Kasparian, a nurse in the ICU, tried everything: picking Brielle up and holding her, having her dad hold her, and wrapping her in a blanket, and more. For all the nurse’s efforts, Brielle’s condition got worse and worse.
But then Gayle remembered something she heard about a case over in Europe. What she did next didn’t exactly conform to the hospital’s rules and regulations, but seeing Brielle slowly slipping away was so heartbreaking she knew she had to try it. Gayle took Brielle over to the other incubator and placed her next to Kyrie. The result was nothing short of miraculous. Brielle immediately snuggled up to her twin sister who then put her arm around her. But the really incredible thing is that Brielle’s vital signs quickly improved. There’s no arguing with success: the two girls spent the next few weeks together in their incubator.
Fortuitously, a photographer from a local newspaper was on assignment at the hospital and he was able to snap a photo of the twins called “The Rescuing Hug.” The image got national coverage and better still, prompted hospitals to change their procedures so that this kind of “kangaroo care” was allowed. Countless tiny lives have been saved as a result. Meanwhile Brielle and Kyrie have grown up to be perfectly healthy young women.
Check out the video posted below and let us know what you think about this “kangaroo care” in the Facebook comments. Don’t forget to like and share!
