In 1998, I gave birth to what should have been a healthy baby girl. However when she was born this was not the case. My daughter had meconium in her lungs. After 3 days at our hospital's NICU she was tranported to Children's Mercy. She was only given a 40% chance of living. I was also told if she lived she would have major pysical and learning disabilities. At 35 days old I got to bring her home with oxygen and a heart monitor. She was off oxygen by 3 months old. Her first years brought lots of concerns regarding pysical and mental development. By 18 months, she no longer had to see specialists. Today she is 11 years old, is a star athlete on her teams and is in the gifted program at school. I know she wouldn't be where she is today without Children's Mercy and the NICU staff.