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A woman who once fought for her life as the smallest baby born in Texas now works at the same hospital that saved her life.
Born at 24 weeks old, Tammy Lewis spent three and a half months at Scott and White Hospital’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). Lewis was considered a micro preemie / ˈmaɪkroʊ ˈpriːmi /, a baby born weighing less than 800 grams. Because of this, the doctors were unsure whether she would live and beat the odds.
Now, after 34 years, Lewis works at the same NICU that took care of her when she was a premature baby.
Even while she was still studying, Lewis had always known that she wanted to work with children. She was choosing between a profession in teaching and the medical field. However, Lewis claimed that she fell in love with the medical field when she began researching on it.
Now, Lewis works as a respiratory therapist for premature babies. Part of her job is attaching premature babies to ventilators and breathing tubes, just like the ones that helped her survive years ago. Incidentally, Lewis is now working alongside some of the staff who took care of her as a baby.
Lewis said that it is an honor to be able to pay it forward and take care of children who are in the same situation that she was in. According to Lewis, nothing feels more rewarding for her than seeing premature babies grow big and healthy enough to go home. She added that being a survivor lets her become a beacon of hope for parents with premature babies in the hospital.