Centers for Disease Control and Prevention<\/a>. <\/p>\nIn 2023, the most recent year for which data is available, 1 in 10 U.S. babies were born preterm. The national preterm birth rate places the U.S. among the highest of developed nations according to the March of Dimes, a nonprofit focused on improving maternal and infant health. <\/p>\n
Madison was born extremely premature on Dec. 4, 2004 at K. Hovnanian, located on the campus of Jersey Shore University Medical Center.<\/p>\n
Her eyes were still fused shut and she struggled to breathe on her own. She needed round-the-clock care and two different procedures over the course of four and a half months. <\/p>\n
It was a challenging time for Christine and Michael Kennedy, Madison\u2019s parents, as they juggled daily hospital visits and raising their two other kids, who were 2\u00bd and 1\u00bd years old at the time.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was very heartbreaking for me every day to come and leave,\u201d said Christine Kennedy in an interview. \u201cIt was very, very difficult not being there with her.\u201d<\/p>\n
There were several times the family got a call from the hospital warning them that Madison might not make it through the night. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt was very hard,\u201d said Kennedy.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s surreal for Madison to hear about how touch and go those early days were, when her life hung in the balance.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s crazy to even think about,\u201d Madison said. <\/p>\n
![\"Kennedy](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/TMSHKFW5B5EZVPHXBGGULYP6FA.png\")
Madison Kennedy, left, reunited with Janine Buggle in the hallways of the same NICU unit where they first met 21 years ago.Jim Lowney for NJ Advance Media<\/p>\n
But throughout those long, hard months, Kennedy said the family was shown incredible kindness. <\/p>\n
Buggle, who was Madison\u2019s assigned day nurse, gave the family daily updates about what was going on. She made Madison a tiny stocking when Christmas came around. And she called them when one of Madison\u2019s eyes opened, just as excited to share the news as they were to receive it. <\/p>\n
The Kennedy family credits her with Madison\u2019s survival and well-being to this day. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt was like we all shared in this,\u201d said Kennedy. \u201cI never forgot her, and it was always like she\u2019s a part of our family.\u201d<\/p>\n
The experience also inspired the former graphic designer to join the health care field as a certified medical assistant. Now that her kids are all grown up, the 52-year-old is going to nursing school. <\/p>\n
\u201cI want to give back and I want to be that nurse that someone can turn to,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
Buggle didn\u2019t know the impact she would have taking care of Madison all those years ago. She was just doing her job.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe cry with the parents. We enjoy the milestones with the parents \u2014 something as little as the baby gaining two pounds, the first bottle coming off the ventilator or going to an open crib,\u201c said Buggle. <\/p>\n
She\u2019s received Christmas cards and notes of appreciation from former patients over the years. But no one has ever sought her out the way the Kennedy family did.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo see Madison 21 years later \u2014 and it was on her bucket list, as she put it, to find me and thank me \u2014 it\u2019s just a surreal feeling to know that you made such a huge impact on a family that they went through all those steps to find me,” said Buggle. <\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think as a nurse you realize you\u2019ve had such an impact. You\u2019re just there living day to day with them,\u201d said Buggle. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Madison Kennedy doesn\u2019t remember the four and a half months she spent in the neonatal intensive care unit…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":413186,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[59],"tags":[97,252,253],"class_list":{"0":"post-413185","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health-care","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-health-care","10":"tag-healthcare"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/413185","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=413185"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/413185\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/413186"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=413185"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=413185"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=413185"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"NICU](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/PA5LDT3J5JAW5M74RK6C5NWAMM.png\")
Madison Kennedy spent a total of four and a half months in the NICU, the majority of it at K. Hovnanian Children’s Hospital, located on the campus of Jersey Shore University Medical Center. Her photographs only show Janine Buggle’s hands.Courtesy of Christine Kennedy<\/p>\n