Coming full circle
to help kids in need

By Tom Waring
Times Staff Writer

When Melissa Wilson was born back on April 26, 1982, she was 11 weeks premature and weighed just 2 pounds, 6 ounces.
Then known as Melissa Rose, she was rushed by ambulance from Rancocas Hospital in Willingboro, N.J., to St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children, then located at Fifth Street and Lehigh Avenue.
The infant had a series of problems, including trouble breathing. She had surgeries to remove a ruptured bowel and to remove her appendix and part of her small intestine.
Mary Anne Hufnagle — known to everyone as "Huffy" — was part of the nursing team back then.
"I remember her," she recalled. "She was a sick kid."
Eventually, the staff found a formula that young Melissa liked, a medicine that agreed with her and a monitor to help her breathe.
After two and a half months in the St. Christopher Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), she went home and went on to have a healthy childhood.
"My family says I’m a miracle child," said Melissa, now 26 and living in Maple Shade, N.J.
A year ago, she graduated from Holy Family University’s School of Nursing. Last July, she began her professional career as a NICU nurse at St. Christopher Hospital, now located at Front Street and Erie Avenue.
Her supervisor? Huffy, the nurse who helped save her life 25 years earlier.
"I remember she was a cute little baby," Huffy said. "She turned into a big healthy kid."
Melissa is glad to be working in the nursing field and to be assigned to a NICU, especially the one at St. Christopher. The best part is watching sick babies go home healthy.
"I wanted to become a nurse to help people the way they helped me when I was little," she said.
A Mayfair resident who has spent more than 33 years in nursing, Huffy has seen a lot of changes in the field.
In Melissa’s case, she had multiple problems. The medical technology was not as advanced as it is today.
"In that day, you were surprised to see kids make it," she said. "We didn’t have what we have today."
Even when Melissa was released from St. Christopher in July 1982, she needed to be hooked up to a breathing monitor.
"It was scary for parents to go home with a monitor," Huffy said. "Monitors went off every time a baby moved."
Melissa came back for follow-up visits but never needed additional surgeries.
"When she passed the six-month range and was eating and developing, we knew she’d be an OK kid," Huffy said.
In February 2007, Melissa was among a group of about 100 nursing students scheduled for graduation that May who attended a dinner in the St. Christopher atrium.
Jim Konzelman, the NICU director, interviewed her. Later, she shadowed staff nurses for two weeks and eventually she was hired for the job.
"She had all the right credentials," said Huffy, the NICU’s clinical coordinator. "She had the urge to be here and probably has more empathy for the parents and is very compassionate with the kids."
The St. Christopher NICU consists of 35 beds, which are usually filled.
"It’s busy in there," Melissa said. "There’s a lot of learning experience in the unit."
While the medical technology has advanced to the point that more sick children survive and heal more quickly, the fact remains that there are still plenty of kids born premature or with other serious ailments to keep NICUs busy.
One of the youngsters currently in Melissa’s care is Alyssa Marie Glenn, born April 29 weighing only 1.1 kilograms (about 2 pounds, 4 ounces). She was born at 28 weeks gestation and probably won’t be released to her Bridesburg home until the time her mother was due.
Melissa has a special bond with children like Alyssa, but believes all of her fellow NICU nurses take special care of the infants.
"Everyone in there is just as compassionate as I am toward the patients," she said. ••
Reporter Tom Waring can be reached at 215-354-3034 or twaring@phillynews.com