Eighteen years and six months ago, Erin came home from the hospital for the first time. Independence Plus, Inc. (IPI) founder, Tami Müller, remembers Erin well. Tami spent several days on-site with Erin, her parents, and IPI nurses. Erin was able to be cared for at home, away from the hospital, and with IPI skilled home nursing care.
Erin was born premature at 33 weeks, and after spending almost 12 months in the hospital, she was able to be home 18 days before her first birthday. She weighed less than 19 pounds, had a tracheostomy tube in place, and she required free-standing CPAP when exhausted and sleeping.
Fast forward 18 plus years – prom and a high school graduation have never been sweeter! There were some difficult days for Erin and her mom and dad, Sherry and Troy, but that was a long time ago. As Sherry said, “You don’t ever know what to expect and maybe seeing Erin now will help others. People can see that things can go well” even with congenital challenges.
“One of the greatest moments of my life was to see Erin walk across the stage with her date. She waved and just was the ‘queen of the ball.’” In preparing for prom, “there was no shopping around.” Erin knew exactly what she wanted and it needed to be “yellow, sparkly, and puffy!” As you can see, she got exactly what she wanted. Her cousin (obviously a licensed beautician) did her hair and Mom did her make-up. The result was, “WOW!”
“Absolutely, no doubt, the excellent care she got, brought her to where she is now,” Sherry says. Life is good! What comes next? Erin will continue with her schooling for three more years of job coaching and job training. She is quite amazing and stunningly beautiful! All of us at IPI are very proud of her achievements!