WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (WGHP) — 400 days after being born, a baby girl named Meredith will finally leave Brenner Children’s Hospital in Winston-Salem.
Meredith has been under constant monitoring for months due to health complications. In her time at the hospital, she has caught and been treated for several illnesses.
“I think she was a week old the first time she got pneumonia. She had pneumonia I think three times. She’s had coronavirus 49. She’s had rhinovirus multiple times, which is just a common cold to us, but … it is deadly … She’s on high-pressure support on a ventilator,” said her grandmother Tina Southern.
Meredith was born on June 11, 2022, with tiny and underdeveloped lungs.
Doctors gave Meredith a tracheotomy and a gastrostomy tube allowing her to get the oxygen and nutrition she needed to survive and grow stronger.
“I have to say … we had some amazing nurses … We were in the queue, and I think had it not been for that, I probably would’ve lost my mind,” Tina said.
Meredith’s family has watched and waited for her to be well enough to go home, and that wait will come to an end soon.
“I feel relieved. I feel blessed … I just feel happy that we’ve made it through this journey … A year ago, I just said there was no light at the end of the tunnel, but we’re finally here, and I just feel blessed and excited,” Tina said.
Tina has gotten through a lot of training to help Meredith with her needs when she gets home.
Meredith is a twin. Her brother was healthy enough to go home earlier than her.
On Thursday, Meredith will finally sleep in her crib where she belongs.
