HURLEY CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL ANNOUNCES 2024 CMN CHILD CHAMPION

Amari Ramsey’s journey did not begin at Hurley Children’s Hospital, but Hurley is definitely where it ended and her mom, Julia, couldn’t be more grateful. Throughout Julia’s entire pregnancy, she had preeclampsia and was considered high risk at 28 weeks. She was put on bed rest at another area hospital because of the condition.

Once they were unable to get her blood pressure down, her doctor told her that he had spoken to the high risk team and the NICU doctors over at Hurley Children’s Hospital. They all agreed that she needed to be transported to Hurley so that her baby would have access to the services provided by the Level III Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at the hospital.

Around 9am on August 14, 2018 Julia was awakened by 2 doctors standing in her room. As she woke from the haziness of sleep, the doctors informed her that it was no longer safe for her or the baby and that they’d need to perform an emergency c-section. Julia felt so confused and was in complete shock. Once she spoke to the Hurley doctor who would be performing her c-section and to the doctor in the NICU, she felt much more at ease.

During the surgery, Julia waited anxiously to hear the first cries from her baby girl but they did not come. It took several minutes before little Amari finally began crying and Julia felt so relieved. That relief was replaced by fear when she was told that the baby was not stable and that she needed to be rushed to the NICU.

Amari’s condition combined with Julia’s recovery made it impossible for the two to see each other on that first day. It was not until Amari’s second day of life that her mother finally got to meet her.

Little Amari was so small, weighing only 3lbs 2.8oz. She was all wrapped up in the warming bed and had cords and tubes attached to her.  All Julia could do was look at her through the walls of the warming bed. 

A Hurley nurse, sensing a mother’s distress, came over and explained everything that was going on. The nurse told Julia that Amari wasn’t breathing well on her own and was having trouble maintaining her body temperature. Amari was receiving nutrition via a feeding tube and was having bradycardia episodes.

In those first days in the NICU, Julia was so scared of the unknown. However by the time she left the NICU the staff there had made her feel so comfortable and so reassured that she knew she would be ready to care for her baby.

After a month-long stay in NICU, Amari Ramsey was finally discharged.

Today, Amari is a beautiful, healthy, adventurous 5-year-old who just started Kindergarten. She loves playdough and recess as well as her stuffed animal turtle, Turbo.

As a third shift team lead at Walmart #1928 in Flint, Michigan, Julia was familiar with Children’s Miracle Network but had no idea how deeply she’d rely on her local CMN hospital.

“Children’s Miracle Network is so much more than people realize. You never know just how much CMN does until your child is the child needing that miracle!  This program helps pay for so many things that these miracle’s need. Please don’t wait until it’s your child who needs help to make a donation.”

Thanks to support from Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals programs at Hurley Foundation, Amari Ramsey’s family had access to the clinical staff and state-of-the-art equipment needed to ensure her early entrance into the world went smoothly. From the giraffe warming bed, to the food vouchers given to her mom, so many pieces of her month-long stay in Hurley’s Level III NICU were positively impacted by donations made to CMN.