Nurse Realizes She Works With Doc She Once Helped Save

He was once a preemie, and she was among his caregivers
By Josh Gardner,  Newser Staff
Posted Sep 3, 2018 3:30 PM CDT
Updated Sep 8, 2018 11:00 AM CDT
Doc Now Works With Nurse Who Helped Save Him as a Baby
   (Getty/Astakhova)

A neonatal intensive care nurse in California recently realized a fresh-faced pediatric neurology resident she's working alongside was once one of her patients. Per the Mercury News, Vilma Wong said she asked Dr. Brandon Seminatore his name when he began working on her team. "I then got very suspicious because I remember being the primary nurse to a baby with the same last name," Wong, 54, said in a statement after the story went viral on Facebook. "To confirm my suspicion, I asked him if his dad was a police officer. And there was a big silence. Then he asked me if I was Vilma. I said yes!"

Per a statement from the hospital, Seminatore was born at just under 2.5 pounds in 1990 and spent 40 days in the NICU unit, where he now knows Wong was among the team that helped keep him alive. “Meeting Vilma was a surreal experience,” Seminatore said. “I’ve come full circle and I’m taking care of babies with the nurse that took care of me.” Also thrilled about the reunion were Seminatore's parents, who attended reunions for patients of the NICU unit for several years after their only son got his clean bill of health. They even provided a photo that was snapped all those years ago of Seminatore sitting on Wong's lap. “I was in shock initially, but overjoyed," Wong said. (More premature baby stories.)

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