LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Lindsay Brock's story proves you never know the impact you have on others.
In her case, the people who cared for her almost 24 years ago changed the course of history for her family and her future in medicine.
Lindsay just joined the team of nurses and doctors who care for the tiniest and most critical patients in Louisville. And it's no coincidence where she landed this job.
"It's more than a job. I care a lot," she said. "I go home and wonder how they're doing."
It's only her second week as an RN in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at Norton Women's and Children's, but she's no stranger to this hospital. She was born here almost 24 years ago on Feb. 2, 2000.
"I had Lindsay when I was 33 weeks pregnant," April Brock, her mother, said.
"When she was born, she was handed to a respiratory therapist, which handed her to me, and said, 'Go show her off,'" Johnnie Brock, her dad, said.
"They brought her to me and I said, 'Something's wrong. She's not breathing right," April said.
"The doctor heard the same thing, and off they went to the NICU," Johnnie said. "I had the old fashioned big camcorder we borrowed from her dad. We took like thirty seconds worth of film. Everything just turned bad, and I just hit the off button and sat down."
Lindsay was born with acute respiratory failure and a couple holes in her heart.
"It just progressively got worse, little by little," her dad said. "I needed to hear she was going to live, but we didn't hear that for a long time."
"On Feb. 5, she just got too much out of control for doctors here and they had to send her downtown," her mom said.
"They sent me down to get ECMO and then a miracle happened in transport and I didn't need it when I got there," Lindsay said.
She spent more than a month between the two NICUs.
"This hospital was such a blessing to us," April said. "We know all those doctors by name."
"The work they do is pretty amazing," Johnnie said. "They leave no stone unturned."
It put Lindsay on a path to do the same for others, with a career not only in nursing but at the very hospital that saved her life.
"I feel like it was meant to be," her dad said.
"For her to be taking care of these babies after she's been here, it makes me such a proud momma," her mom said.
"Whenever I care for my patients, I make sure I do the most because someone did it for me at one point," Lindsay said. "Being there for parents in their worst moment is something I take pride in because when you need someone, you need someone."
"I encourage her to be that nurse," April said. "Take care of your parents, too, while you take care of that baby. You may not know what to say or do but you never know where that will lead them."
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