Stories, photos of premature babies support parents in Wall of HOPE

Saving the lives of premature newborns is a challenge -one that Cheryl and Michael Alesia of Arlington Heights have faced personally.

Several years ago, Cheryl Alesia gave birth to twins Jack and Matthew. Jack was able to go home after a 10-week stay in the newborn intensive care unit at Advocate Lutheran General Children's Hospital in Park Ridge, but Matthew lost his three-month struggle to survive. Eighteen months later, Natalie was born and also required a brief stay in the unit.

Now, her story and those of nine other families are on a Helping Our Parents Endure (HOPE) wall in a hallway outside the unit.

"These stories run the gamut from heartbreak to triumph," Cheryl Alesia said. "These are real stories. They are amazing and they are from the heart."

She is a founding member of the Lutheran General's NICU Family Advisory Committee, which developed the wall. It also includes photographs of babies, many weighing less than 2 pounds, struggling to live, and later photographs of what many of the children look like today.

"I didn't know much about an NICU before my babies were here," Cheryl Alesia said in a news release.

When you're a new parent with a child in the NICU, it's very scary. There is so much uncertainty - things change day-to-day and minute-by-minute. You also can feel isolated. When a parent feels like that, we hope they will come to this hallway, look at the faces of these beautiful children and know that there is hope for their little ones in the NICU." The goal is to support parents facing similar challenges and medical issues.

The idea for the wall was based on a similar exhibit at another hospital that Lutheran General registered nurse Karen Lebo discussed with the family advisory committee.

"The impact of the wall has been unbelievable," Lebo said in the news release. She said she often sees parents reading the stories and studying the photographs. "It helps give them comfort, realize what it's like to have a child here, and what the future can be." Alesia added, "If one parent walks away from this wall with a little more optimism, a little more encouragement, and a little more hope, then we have accomplished our mission." More stories will be added in the future along with an album to catalog others' personal reflections and photographs.