Piper Case’s Story
From tragedy to indescribable joy.
“We knew having twins, particularly identical twins, could be especially risky,” said Carson Case, whose wife, Melissa, was being monitored closely by doctors as her due date approached.
Everything was going smoothly until she went to a regularly scheduled appointment with the maternal fetal medicine specialist during the 27th week of her pregnancy. The physician told Melissa that a problem had been detected with the twins. In just a few days, their babies had developed an acute case of Stage 4 Twin-to-Twin Transfusion Syndrome, a serious prenatal condition where twins share unequal amounts of the placenta’s blood supply resulting in the two fetuses growing at different rates.
“That night, our girls had to be delivered immediately due to dramatic drops in one of our twin’s, Piper’s, heart rate,” recalled Carson. “Our other little girl, Lily, sadly passed away shortly after birth, and Piper was admitted to the NICU. Melissa was sedated during the delivery, so I had to break the news to her when she woke up. That was tough. We were able to spend some time with Lily and will always treasure those precious moments we had with our angel.”
Piper spent 83 days in the NICU, where Melissa and Carson experienced many ups and downs. After two weeks in the NICU, Piper contracted meningitis.
“Throughout our stay, the nurses in the NICU were just awesome,” Melissa said. “Because of them, Piper beat the meningitis. We are so very grateful for all our nurses and doctors at Baptist. They were caring, supportive and very capable, and became like close family members. “
“They were not there just for Piper, but for us, too,” added Carson. “They clearly understand the special needs that parents of NICU patients have.”
Baptist Foundation uses the generous donations of our supporters to purchase a wide range of resources, including comfort items and services for the families of the babies in the NICU to help make their time in the hospital more bearable.
“There were many highs and lows and lots of very special moments there,” Melissa recalled. “The most special was the day we went home so Piper could join her two big sisters. It was close to Christmas Day, and the whole experience just seemed like a miracle.”
Today, Piper is a normal, active toddler, with no evidence of the traumatic start she had.
“Our little Piper truly is a little miracle,” said Melissa. “We are so thankful for the outstanding nurses, the doctors and to God for bringing us all through this. We have stayed in touch with our NICU nurses and will consider them friends forever.”