Melissa George Neonatal Memorial Fund
Visit swimformelissa.org today to find out more information about Swim for Melissa benefiting the Melissa George Neonatal Memorial Fund at Huntsville Hospital Foundation.
Find the Melissa George Fund on Facebook!
Amy & Chris George
Amy and Chris George are familiar faces to many Tennessee Valley residents. Amy was an award-winning journalist for WHNT News 19 in Huntsville and now stays at home with her two girls, Ann Catherine and Lily Baker. You may better recognize Chris in a hockey jersey. The Kitchener, Ontario, native played for the Huntsville Channel Cats hockey team from 1996 through 2001. He's now a medical sales representative.
Melissa & Ann Catherine's Story
In June 2005, Amy gave birth at 26 weeks to Melissa Suzanne and Ann Catherine. Melissa weighed one pound, nine ounces and died just a few hours after she was born. Ann Catherine weighed one pound, fifteen ounces and was in the Regional Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (RNICU) at Huntsville Hospital for Women & Children for 68 days. Ann Catherine went home in August 2005 and is pictured here as a happy, healthy one-year-old.
Melissa's Fund
Amy and Chris were touched by the care both of their daughters received in the RNICU. In their words, "The doctors and nurses there take God's tiniest miracles and give them a chance at life." In November 2005, they established the Melissa George Neonatal Memorial Fund to raise money to buy lifesaving equipment for the RNICU. Amy says, "We can't think of a better way to honor Melissa's memory. Her time on Earth may have been short, but she'll live forever in our hearts. We are excited about all the good we'll be able to do in her name through this fund."
Regional Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Huntsville Hospital for Women & Children
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The Regional Neonatal Intensive Care Unit is the only Level III intensive care unit for critically ill babies in the North Alabama region. -
The RNICU cares for more than 1,000 babies each year. -
The RNICU is a state-of-the-art unit designed to provide the latest in high tech and "high touch" care for infants and their families in a homelike environment that encourages parental involvement in care. -
The unit includes 45 beds in two nurseries, Intensive Care and Progressive Care. -
The RNICU staff includes 4 neonatologists and a staff of more than 107 nurses who are specially trained to care for premature and critically-ill infants.
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