C. S. Mott Children's Hospital
A Mott Mom’s View from the Fridge
By Rachel York, mother of patient Jason
There is so much that I can say about Mott Hospital and about our experiences with the doctors, nurses and hospital staff there. But it can all be summed up by looking at the front of our refrigerator.
Like most young parents, our refrigerator is covered with numerous pictures of children: our own children and the children of our friends. However, our pictures differ from pictures that cover most other young parents’ fridges. Our refrigerator is covered with images of smiling children, but many of these children have NG tubes or oxygen tubing, or the pictures depict children who are “just a little blue.” And still other pictures contain more than one date: They contain both the birth and death dates.
As sad as that may sound, our fridge, just like our photo album, is a tribute to Mott Hospital. We have these pictures because of Mott and because of the doctors and staff who have been with us along the way.
Without the work of our doctors, surgeons and nurse, we would not have baby pictures of Jason. Without Mott Hospital, we would not have been able to capture great moments like first smiles, first laughs and Jason’s first birthday. Nor would we have the opportunity to take new pictures and capture new firsts along the way.
The staff at Mott also have become a great part of our photo album. In many ways, they have become a second family to us. Jason’s doctors, surgeons and nurses grace the pages of Jason’s baby book. And I know from conversations with other parents that we are not the only family to have images of our child’s surgeon and cardiologist grace our mantel each day.
Without Mott, we would not have the beautiful pictures that grace our refrigerator door, and we would not have images of our second family in our photo album. We would not have the wonderfully captured moments of Jason’s life and, most importantly, we would not have our son Jason.
So, from our first family to our second one, we say thank you. Thank you!
