Young Vilma and an even younger Brandon (Picture: Brandon Seminatore/SWNS)

You never realise how the small world is until you find out that your new colleague is actually the baby you treated 28 years ago.

While most of us haven’t experienced that, that’s exactly what happened to intensive care nurse Vilma Wong.

The 54-year-old was shocked to learn that the new doctor on the block, Brandon Seminatore, was in fact a baby she nursed when he was born.

Vilma took care of Brandon when he was delivered prematurely at 26 weeks.


Vilma has been working in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital in Palo Alto, California for 32 years.



When she saw the young doctor’s name, she instantly recognised it but could not place where she’d seen it before.

When Brandon revealed that they both worked at the hospital he was born in, she knew who he was.

Brandon, who is specialising in child neurology, even had a picture of the two taken during his early days.

They were reunited 28 years later (Picture: SWNS)

‘I got very suspicious because I remember being the primary nurse to a baby with the same last name,’ Vilma explained about seeing his name for the first time.

‘I asked him if his dad was a police officer and there was a big silence and then he asked me if I was Vilma.

‘I said yes.

‘Apparently, his mother asked him to look for nurse Vilma in the NICU, but he told his mom that I had probably retired by now.

‘I was in shock initially but overjoyed to know that I took care of him almost 30 years ago and now he’s as a pediatric resident to the same population he was part of when he was born.’

Brandon said: ‘Meeting Vilma was a surreal experience.

‘I never expected to meet a provider who took care of me when I was a baby.

‘When Vilma recognised my name, I remembered the photos my parents had shown me and I truly sunk in that I was one of these babies.

‘I’ve come full circle and I’m taking care of babies with the nurse who took care of me.

‘Not all of us will get the chance to see our patients grow up, and I was so happy to be able to share that moment with her.’

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