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Mallory Marconi of Harmony Township, born prematurely and treated at Newark Beth Israel in 1990, now works there as a nurse.

(Jerry McCrea | For NJ Advance Media)

It's 7 p.m. and Mallory Marconi begins her night shift at Newark Beth Israel Medical Center. A medical/surgical nurse at the Newark-based facility, Marconi, 24, covers needs in five different units of the hospital, where her responsibilities include greeting patients, conducting full assessments of each one, monitoring their vitals, administering their medications, dressing wounds, and assisting physicians and other nurses with a variety of other procedures.

But while patients respond positively to the friendly and competent young lady, few are aware that her very presence at their bedside represents the ultimate full circle, the happy culmination of an uncertain journey that started in NBI's NICU nearly 25 years earlier.

Born on March 29, 1990, at Newark Beth Israel, Marconi, a Bridgewater native and current resident of Harmony Township, arrived into the world at 26 and-a-half weeks -- nearly three months premature and weighing just two pounds, three ounces.

"I was very small, my eyes were still closed, and I had baby hair called lanugo all over me," Marconi recalls being told about her first tenuous weeks.

Following her delivery, she was rushed to the hospital's neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), where she was closely monitored for the next eight weeks until she was finally cleared to go home with a breathing monitor at the end of May. "My whole life, I remember hearing how lucky and what a miracle I was, but I didn't understand it until I got older, and especially not until I became a nurse myself," Marconi said.

A Modern Miracle

"We've made many advances in the field of neonatology over the last several decades and at the time we took care of Mallory, many 26-week-old babies were able to survive, though many did not," said Morris Cohen, M.D., Director of the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Children's Hospital of New Jersey at Newark Beth Israel and the doctor who cared for Marconi a quarter-century ago.

"Among the most life-threatening complications of prematurity is underdevelopment of the lungs - the organ of the body least prepared to function on its own because it hadn't had to in utero, where respiratory and oxygen requirements are supported by the placenta," he explained. "So a lot of effort in the NICU is focused on helping premature babies to breathe. We also address the normalization of many other functions - essentially protecting them from an environment they're not supposed to be in yet - by controlling noise, lights, and other external factors. Nutrition is also a big issue," Cohen added, "and we administer feedings intravenously and carefully monitor growth and other vitals."

About 400,000 babies annually - up to ten percent of the nearly four million born in the U.S. each year - arrive some degree short of the 39-40 weeks that represent a full-term pregnancy, and 700-800 preemies are treated annually at CHoNJ, which houses one of the longest-standing and most sophisticated neonatal units in the state, according to Cohen. Though 25 years have passed since he treated Marconi, Cohen said he can still recall the dire situation she was in.

And despite the fact that doctors can never predict the final outcome of a preemie's journey or the unknowns and developmental risks that may present themselves along the way, Mallory did wonderfully, he said.

Part of a Legacy

"I'd been back to NBI a number of times since I was born, especially to attend picnics that the hospital held annually for its NICU grads, and I was always so proud to go and show everyone that I'd made it this far," Marconi said.

Nursing was a natural evolution for Marconi since both her mother and aunt are nurses.

"The health aspect was always a strong presence in my life and I can't remember a time when I didn't want to be a nurse, she said.

In pursuit of her lifelong dream, she graduated from the nursing program at Cedar Crest College in Allentown, Pa., in January 2014 and took a chance by applying to NBI, where her arrival as a new employee last year surprised and delighted both Cohen and Ruth Benko, a registered nurse who had also been on Marconi's healthcare team 25 years earlier.

"Mallory was small and in respiratory distress and I remember monitoring her and helping to meet all of her special needs, including ensuring that she was kept warm because she had no subcutaneous fat," Benko said. "Her family was great and being part of the process of caring for her was very special to me."

Seeing Marconi now working at NBI as a colleague - which Benko did during Marconi's very first shift at the hospital -- was equally thrilling for the seasoned nurse, who will soon be retiring after 35 years. "Often in nursing you're part of the end result but you don't get to see the full circle," Benko said. "Mallory is a bright young woman with a wonderful personality who has all the elements she needs to be a great nurse, especially the heart."

"It's been a highlight of my career to see Mallory come up like this," Benko added. "I feel like she's part of my legacy - the very best part."

Coming Home

Cohen and Benko agree that neonatology is a rapidly developing field that's turning out more and more positive outcomes.

Due to increasingly sophisticated ventilators, the administration of medications that minimize damage to and promote healing in premature lungs, new procedures for protecting premature brains, and more, the vast majority of premature babies will survive, even at 25-26 weeks, and many will have no problems or only minor issues, Cohen said.

Regardless, he said, each baby who goes home is exciting, and he finds Marconi's story even moreso.

"The influences in Mallory's life came into play in her choice of profession; she wanted to give back and it's exciting that she's chosen to do this." Of his and his team's critical role in her first days, Cohen said that it's wonderful thing for kids to grow up to be adults, fulfill their dreams, and reach their potential. "If we make some contribution to that process, it's a nice thing."

"It feels amazing to be here," said Marconi, who's been working hard at NBI to gain experience and establish a strong foundation that she hopes will carry her through her entire nursing career. "To think that almost 25 years ago, a nurse was doing the same thing for me as I'm doing now in the same building leaves me speechless. And to see Dr. Cohen and Ruth and so many others still here and loving what they do - they had that passion and I hope to relay that to my patients as well."

Marconi said she wants to help her patients be the best they can be from a health perspective. "And I'd like to work with kids in the future," she added, "especially due to my background."

"I know she'll make a significant contribution to the field of nursing and medical care," Cohen said of his former patient and now colleague.

As for Marconi's return to the place where she started?

"I feel like I belong here," she said.