Nearly 200 Kaiser Permanente patients, families, and caregivers gathered at Thrive Park at Snapdragon Stadium for a superhero-themed reunion celebrating children who spent their first days in the neonatal intensive care unit.
The event featured games, superhero characters, and long-awaited reunions between families and the doctors and nurses who cared for their babies during some of the most frightening moments of their lives.
Among those in attendance was 7-year-old Hope Malek, who arrived clutching a Wonder Woman plush.
"I'm strong like Wonder Woman," Hope said.
Hope was born at just 25 weeks, weighing 1 pound and 12 ounces. Her mother, Nancy Habib, said Hope spent 100 days in Kaiser's NICU, where doctors and nurses worked to keep her alive.
"We really didn't know what was gonna happen with her," Habib said.
Through the uncertainty, Habib said she leaned on faith — and, like her daughter's name, hope.
"I remember just kind of praying by her incubator, and she opened her big brown eyes and stared at me, and I remember just feeling like wow," Habib said.
Seeing Hope thrive seven years later has been an emotional milestone for the family.
"It's just been a real surreal time to see the 7 years of work and therapy come to fruition for this thriving young lady," Habib said.
For Dr. Carl Shangle, Chief of Neonatology at Kaiser San Diego, the event was a chance to witness how far his patients have come — and to reflect on who the real heroes are.
"It's not us that are superheroes. The staff are all superheroes. The children and the families are superheroes," Shangle said.
Shangle said the reunion also gives parents a chance to see that there is life beyond the NICU.
"When I come here, and I see the families, and I see the smiles, and we see the kids running around playing over here on the bouncy house, my heart melts," Shangle said.
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