Ryan’s Story
By Anna
Amery, WI

It's hard to believe that it has already been 6 years since my son, Ryan was born. Ryan was born in June 2003. He weighed 3 pounds 1 oz, and was taken to Children's of Minneapolis. Ryan is my first born. What an experience!! It was the scariest time of my life. I was a new mom, with this new baby, that I could only hold once a day for 15 minutes, and he was so tiny and fragile. But he was beautiful.

Ryan was on a respirator for less than 2 hours the day he was born, and was never on it again. He had to be fed through a feeding tube in his nose, but other than that, you couldn't have asked for a healthier 3 pound baby.

He was in the hospital for about 4 weeks before we could bring him home. Children's hospital nurses and doctors are the most wonderful people I have ever met in my life. They were kind, patient and understanding. They took unbelievably great care of my precious son. It was a very emotional time.

Today, Ryan is a healthy, very active first grader. There have never been any negative problems from being a preemie. I thank everyone at children's hospital for my son’s health. Thank you so much! All of you!!