When Cullen Potter was born at just 22 weeks in March, Molli, his mom, wrote on Facebook that doctors gave the premature baby just a two percent chance of survival, The Telegraph reports.
But after more than five months inside the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) at the University of South Alabama Children’s and Women’s Hospital in Mobile, Cullen beat the odds — and has just left to go home for the very first time.
A video shows the celebration as Cullen miraculously “graduates” from the hospital in a cap and gown that his parents bought for him at Build-A-Bear.
A nurse is seen carrying Cullen as commencement music plays in the background. As she walks the baby boy down a hallway, a group of smiling people watch and join in the adulation.
“Where’s the diploma at?” one on-looker asks.
Renee Rogers, nurse manager for the NICU, said that it is always an “emotional” moment when a child can leave their hospital in good health after an early birth, according to Good Morning America.
“Our families spend a lot of time here and we become family with each other,” Rogers said. “When it’s time to go home, it’s emotional not just for the families but for the staff as well.”
For the Potter family, getting to “graduation” was by no means easy.
Molli explained that 2017 brought two miscarriages, and she spent three weeks in a Florida hospital due to complications with Cullen’s pregnancy.
Doctors there barely gave the baby a chance of living, so her husband reached out to more than a dozen hospitals searching for someone willing to give Cullen the opportunity to live.
Along came the University of South Alabama Children’s and Women’s Hospital. They performed an emergency C-Section and nursed Cullen to health.
Now the baby boy, with an “adjusted age” of one-month, is home with his grateful parents and big brother Kayden.
“Well, here’s our 2%,” Molli wrote on Facebook.
She continued, “Perfect in every way. God is good big boy.”
Sean Ross is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @sean_yhn
