CHICAGO – Vicelis Negron said she can count many medical professionals who have helped her 2-year-old son, Jacob, who was born without part of the left ventricle in his heart.
But there was just one she called her "angel" — a nurse she knew only as Claudia, who took care of her family the day Jacob was born. If it wasn't for her, Negron said, Jacob might not be here today.
After numerous calls and visits to the hospital in attempts to find Claudia, Negron took to social media to make a plea to find the nurse she says not only saved her son, but also comforted her and her husband as they watched doctors work on Jacob, who was struggling to breathe and eventually was transferred to Lurie Children's Hospital in Chicago.
Recently, Negron, 31, and her family, including Jacob donning a necktie for the occasion, finally met nurse Claudia Lopez. In an emotional reunion in a hospital room at Westlake Hospital, not far from where Jacob was born, Lopez smiled through tears as she waved to a shy Jacob and embraced Negron, who repeatedly thanked her as the two hugged and cried.
"I've been thinking about this day since a week after I had Jacob," Negron said. "I walked into this hospital, looking for her. I wish I would've thought of Facebook sooner."
For Lopez, 35, the moment was just as meaningful. "It's very heartwarming to know you've made a difference in someone's life."
In the hours after Jacob was born on Feb. 15, 2016, Negron had a bad feeling. The baby — her third son — wouldn't latch on for breast-feeding, and Negron thought he just didn't look right. She thought she spotted a blue tinge to Jacob's lips but saw the same thing after her second son was born, so she thought it was normal. Doctors checked the baby and couldn't find anything wrong.
"So we fell asleep," Negron recalled.
Lopez said she had started taking care of Negron and her baby at the start of her 7 p.m. shift. Not long after, she decided to check on the family.
"God was the one who told me to go into that room," Lopez said.
As soon as she entered, Lopez saw signs of respiratory distress in Jacob; the baby was making a gurgling noise and was pale, she recalled. Lopez quickly wheeled his bassinet into the NICU, where "he starts to get blue right before my eyes."
The nurses and doctors in the NICU hooked up Jacob to a breathing tube and conducted tests, Lopez said.
"They took over," Lopez said. "All I did was bring the baby in. They saved the baby's life."
But Negron said Lopez did more than that.
"She means the world to us, my husband and I," she said.
Jacob, diagnosed with the congenital heart condition Tetralogy of Fallot, had his first of two heart surgeries at Lurie the day after he was born, and spent his first month of life there, Negron said. Jacob, who is doing well now, will require surgeries to continue to repair his heart, she said, and his third surgery is expected around age 4 or 5.
Negron said she always thought about Claudia, and decided she wanted to meet her when Jacob was about 6 months old. When the hospital couldn't provide Claudia's last name due to privacy rules, Negron took her quest to Facebook.
"Help me find Claudia," the post said.
"Claudia is the one nurse who stands out."
