SAVANNAH, GA (WTOC) –
Having a child in the hospital can be an all-consuming concern. The March of Dimes is trying to break that tension, at least temporarily, for parents at the Memorial Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.
A six-foot banana always stands out, but never more-so than when most everyone else in the room is so small.
“Everyone loves Split and it puts a smile on their face,”
That was the intent of Thursday’s visit by the Savannah Banana’s mascot to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Memorial – to take new parents’ minds away ever so briefly from a difficult situation.
“We’re thankful for all the stuff here and the March of Dimes has been great trying to come in and make us feel a little more at home,”
The March of Dimes Family Support Program coordinated the visit with families of babies born prematurely or experiencing prolonged complications. They did it with a Father’s Day theme – with gift bags for dads including a memento from a time that might be hard to remember.
“They put his footprint on it. It’s a Father’s Day present,”
“Most of our dads are brand new dads, and this is not really how they envisioned spending their first Father’s Day, so we wanted to make sure it was extra special for them. It really puts into perspective how small their baby was when they were born,”
Ezra William Naval was born on vacation, but neither he nor his mother have relaxed much during the two weeks they’ve been at the NICU.
“He was in distress and Hilton Head Hospital got him out as quick as possible and they’ve been taking really great care of him here, so we’re very grateful,”
Sarah Naval’s husband had to return to New Jersey for work, but she was also grateful for the momentary break the visit from Split provided – and for her husband’s keepsake baseball.
“Hopefully, he’ll get to maybe come down this weekend and so we’ll get to see him, but then my other children won’t get to see him for Father’s Day. They’ve taken a really hard situation for me and made it better; made it easier,” she said.
Spending time with a six-foot banana made her day something they haven’t been for two weeks.
“Different, very different, but fun, very fun,” she said.