Susanna -- Another Miracle Girl

Kristi Voss brings her daughter Susanna to the Madison DQ today. The camera-shy Susanna is another South Dakota Miracle Girl. She was born at just 24 weeks and weighed a pound and a half. (There may be Blizzards that weigh more than that!) That premature birth meant months in the NICU for Susanna and months on the road back and forth from Madison for Kristi. Children's Miracle Network helped out with expenses during Susanna's long stay in the hospital and afterward, when Susanna still needed oxygen at home and expensive RSV shots. CMN also helped put the special "giraffe bed" incubators in the NICU that helped Susanna and continue to help so many kids.

Now that Susanna is all better, Kristi, senior accountant at DSU, helps other families in similar tough health care situations. Kristi is part of the Sanford Children's Hospital Neonatal Care Family Advisory Council. This group invites parents with kids who've received care in the NICU to serve with doctors, nurses, and social workers to help make the system ever more responsive to the needs of the kids it serves and their families. The council recruits parents of kids with varying medical problems, since kids and their families will have different needs and concerns, depending on their differing health situations. Kristi was glad to receive the help CMN and Sanford Children's Hospital gave her Susanna, and now she's happy to help other kids and parents.