NICU teamwork and care celebrated
PARKTOWN – Born four months premature, the highly vulnerable twins were able to make it through love surrounding them
Two teenage twin brothers who were born four months prematurely are living proof of what can be achieved when surrounded by love.
Their devoted parents, the dedication of a team of specialists and neonatal intensive care nursing professionals from Netcare Park Lane Hospital in Parktown, actively expressed this love which saved the boys’ lives.
“When my babies were delivered by emergency caesarean section on December 5, 2004, I was in shock. Being a first-time mom is usually stressful, but our twin boys were so tiny and underdeveloped that my husband Aki and I were warned that they were extremely vulnerable. It was a surreal, frightening time,” said Yiota Hadjipetros, mother of twins Alexandros and Stefanos.
The twins also had bleeding on their brains and on one occasion required a blood donation.
Doctor Neli Stoykova, who was the Hadjipetros boys’ paediatrician at birth, and is still practising at the hospital said, “As always, we gave our all so that the tiny brothers would not only have the best possible chance of survival but would also have the best possible quality of life, knowing that the clinical decisions we made at that early stage to help save their lives would also influence their future well-being.”
Everyone was so grateful when the twins’ condition gradually began to improve.
Shortly before their 17th birthday, the twins’ parents arranged a special reunion with Dr Stoykova and the NICU team who cared for them in those uncertain months.
“We are so grateful to them, and the nurses were amazed to see how Alexandros and Stefanos are developing into young men,” said Hadjipetros.
She added that both Stefanos and Alexandros have worked hard, and Stefanos is now in Grade 10 in a mainstream school and although Alexandros has some learning barriers, they have done a lot of research into various education models, and they work with Alexandros daily to help make the best of his abilities.
Details: Netcare 086 0638 2273; www.netcare.co.za ; or email customer.service@netcare.co.za
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