One Pound, One Ounce Baby Born at Jackson Goes Home

Gabriella Mercedes Gil, born March 5th at one pound one ounce (480 grams) and 11 inches long, went home on November 6th after more than eight months in the Project: New Born Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at Jackson's Holtz Children's Hospital.  Born at 23 weeks of gestation, Gabriella only had a 15 percent chance of survival. She experienced many life-threatening problems associated with extreme prematurity.  She suffered from chronic lung disease with oxygen dependency, intraventricular hemorrhage (bleeding in brain), retinopathy of prematurity (eye disease), gastro esophageal reflux, thyroid dysfunction, thrombosis of the aorta, and feeding difficulties. She underwent multiple surgeries including PDA ligation (tying off a blood vessel just outside the heart that connects the lung and heart circulation), inguinal hernia repair and laser eye surgery.

Currently weighing 12 pounds, baby Gabriella was discharged with several medications, home oxygen and oxygen saturation monitor, medications for reflux and thyroid hormone replacement therapy.  She will have follow-up appointments with her pediatrician and multi-subspecialty physicians (pediatric pulmonologist, cardiologist, endocrinologist, gastroenterologist and ophthalmologist).  She will also be monitored through our developmental follow up program and will receive physical and speech therapy.

Palm Beach Girl Going Home after Life Threatening Bout with H1N1 Virus 

Cameron Pirozzi has a lot to celebrate when she turns 9 on October 17. The Palm Beach Gardens third-grader spent nearly four months hospitalized after being critically ill with H1N1. The illness began in June when Cameron developed flu-like symptoms, including a cough and high fever that reached 105 degrees.

Cameron was first admitted into a hospital in Palm Beach County on June 27. Her health deteriorated quickly. She went into respiratory failure and was placed on a ventilator. She was sedated in a coma for six weeks and considered a candidate for a heart-lung bypass. Cameron also had a tracheotomy to help her breathe.

The outlook was grim. "There was a point when we didn't know if she was going to make it," said Cameron's mother, Kelly Pirozzi. "But Cameron is a fighter. I never stopped believing she would fully recover."

On September 3, Cameron was admitted to Jackson Memorial Hospital's Child & Adolescent Rehabilitation Unit. At the time, she was on a ventilator, unable to speak, talk, walk and eat. But Jackson's dedicated pediatric rehabilitation team worked with Cameron daily, teaching her how to regain her independence. She can walk again, eat on her own and is looking forward to going back to school.

Doctors at the University of Miami/Jackson Memorial Medical Center, who treated Cameron, say her prognosis is good. She is expected to fully recover. Cameron will continue outpatient rehabilitation closer to home.

On October 15, Cameron was discharged from Holtz Children's Hospital. She will miss the many therapists, physicians and nurses who helped heal here. But she is looking forward to going home and being reunited with her 4-year-old brother, Callahan.

Kelly and Tony Pirozzi say they are grateful to everyone at Jackson who helped save their daughter's life. "Jackson gave us hope," Kelly Pirozzi said. "They gave us our daughter back."