When Kelly Bolton faced a medical emergency at just 25 weeks pregnant, she knew she needed the best expertise and resources to give her baby girl a chance.
Kelly found exactly that at Regional One Health’s Sheldon B. Korones Newborn Center, and the result has been nothing short of amazing.
Kelly’s daughter Whitney is now a thriving young adult on the cusp of graduating law school, and both are committed to supporting the Regional One Health Foundation so other babies can have their best chance at life.
For Kelly Bolton and daughter Whitney, the past quarter of a century has been filled with love, joy, achievements … and an enormous amount of gratitude.
Without Regional One Health and its Sheldon B. Korones Newborn Center NICU, they say, the life story they are writing would have been significantly different.
A sudden emergency
In the fall of 2000, Kelly was pregnant with her first baby. To say she was excited is an understatement: “I was wearing maternity clothes before I even needed to!” Kelly laughs.
One morning she woke up with a bad headache. She went to work, but it only got worse. “Eventually, one of my coworkers asked, ‘Are you OK?’” Kelly remembers. “I looked in the mirror, and I was extremely swollen.”
Alarmed, she went to her doctor and was immediately admitted to the hospital. Kelly was diagnosed with HELLP Syndrome, a rare and severe variation of preeclampsia that causes an expectant mother’s health to deteriorate rapidly.
If left untreated, it can be fatal. The only treatment is to deliver the baby.
Doctors gave her steroids to promote fetal lung development and performed an ultrasound. When it was over, they asked Kelly if she wanted to know her baby’s gender.
“I knew we were in trouble. I thought, ‘If I know the gender, I can identify with my baby,’” she said. “From that point forward, the baby became my daughter.”
She became Whitney, named for her grandmother who would later become her best friend.
“They had to save me to save her”
With that, Kelly knew exactly who she was fighting for. And she quickly realized that it would be the fight of her life.
Kelly Bolton had to deliver her daughter Whitney at 25 weeks due to a medical emergency. Whitney was born weighing just 1 pound, 10 ounces and spent three months in the NICU.
“They took me to another floor, and I was surrounded by my pastor, my mother, my sister, and my best friend,” she said. “When your pastor is there, you know you’re in trouble. The doctors came in and said, ‘We’ve got to deliver this baby.’”
But at 25 weeks pregnant, that gave Whitney less than a 50 percent chance of survival. Even if she did survive, there was a 99 percent chance of medical problems.
Kelly would have gladly sacrificed her own life for Whitney’s, but medically speaking, that wasn’t an option. “With HELLP Syndrome, your body starts shutting down. If I died, they wouldn’t be able to get her out fast enough to save her,” Kelly said.
“They had to save me to save her.”
A crucial decision
Kelly’s goal became getting to a point of viability, which meant making a crucial decision on where to receive care. One of her doctors and her best friend, a high-risk pregnancy nurse, had the same advice: for the best chance at saving her baby, go to Regional One Health.
Soon, she was in an ambulance on her way to downtown Memphis.
At Regional One Health, she was monitored around the clock by specially trained perinatal nurses. Norman Meyer, MD, a renowned maternal fetal medicine doctor, led her care team.
“I was just shy of 25 weeks pregnant when I got down there, and they got me to about 25.5 weeks,” Kelly said. “I had multiple rounds of steroids. I went back and forth to labor & delivery about a bazillion times. I kept crashing, and they kept bringing me back.”
Whitney was given a 50 percent chance of survival, and doctors said there was a 99 percent chance she would have medical problems. She has beaten the odds, excelling at school and preparing for a career as in healthcare law.
Eventually, Kelly’s organs began to shut down. There was no choice but to deliver her baby.
“The next thing I know, they put a gas mask on me and told me to count to 10. I remember thinking, ‘Don’t fall asleep, don’t fall asleep, don’t fall asleep,’” Kelly said.
“I knew when I woke up she might not be alive anymore.”
“We’re going to take care of your little girl”
With Kelly under anesthesia, Dr. Meyer and his team delivered Whitney at 1-pound, 10-ounces. She was immediately taken to the NICU.
“When I woke up, there was a Polaroid next to my bed,” Kelly said. “It was in a Styrofoam cup. They put a slit in it to make a little stand, because that’s all they had. Dr. (Ajay) Talati came in and sat with me and held my hand and said, ‘We’re going to take care of your little girl.’ He was so kind.”
It was the start of a long and arduous NICU journey.
Whitney would spend three months in intensive care. Shortly after Kelly spoke with Dr. Talati, Whitney crashed, the first of many life-or-death moments. She blew two holes in her lungs and needed chest tubes. She needed oxygen throughout her stay.
Yet Dr. Talati was true to his word: they took care of Kelly’s little girl.
Slowly but surely, Whitney began to get stronger. The ups started to outnumber the downs, and she began gaining weight and meeting milestones. After three months, she was able to go home on oxygen and a heart monitor.
Beating the odds
Whitney quickly got busy proving to everyone that she would beat the odds.
“All my life, my mom has poured into me how much Regional One Health means to me,” Whitney said. “I’ve heard about the doctors and nurses who fought to save me, and I know statistically speaking I’m living a life that I shouldn’t have been able to live. The only repercussions I have are two scars – we call them my angel kisses.”
Nurses gave Kelly a Polaroid of her tiny baby. They didn’t have a frame, so they made a stand out of a Styrofoam cup.
Whitney is honoring her NICU angels by living a life of meaning and purpose.
She attended Hutchison School from kindergarten through senior year, earning top grades and ACT scores and then a scholarship to Clemson University in South Carolina, where she majored in political science.
From there, Whitney was selected to the Thomas W. Luce, III Centennial Dedman Law Scholars Program at Southern Methodist University, a prestigious full-tuition scholarship awarded to just one incoming student each year. The award is a recognition not only of her academic achievements, but her commitment to public service and making a positive impact on her community.
Much of Whitney’s focus has been helping NICU babies, and she even considered a career as a NICU nurse or neonatologist.
“My mom always talked to me about the importance of giving back, and it’s so important to me,” Whitney said. “In high school I did a service project to read to babies in the NICU.”
“In her Sunday school class, they got together to knit scarves for the babies. They were terrible!” Kelly laughed. “They weren’t usable, but they did try. It was really sweet.”
Paying it forward
Next, Whitney plans to combine her passion for law and health care so she can help other patients in their time of need.
She interned in the legal department at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, serves as a health law research assistant, and works on a journal focused on science and technology. After graduating following this semester, she’ll join the nation’s largest health care law firm.
Kelly and Whitney are dedicated supporters of Regional One Health. “We both owe these people our lives. If it hadn’t been for them, she would not be here,” Kelly said.
Whitney and Kelly, who have helped with fundraising campaigns at Regional One Health over the years, are also using their voices and inspiring story to raise awareness as the hospital strives to build a new, updated hospital and NICU facility.
“I think it’s very important,” Kelly said. “The doctors and nurses are the best I’ve ever seen, and that’s the number one priority, but the facility was crowded and outdated even back then – and it hasn’t changed. They make it work because they’re brilliant, but if we as a city can provide a better place and a better experience, that’s so important.”
For Kelly and Whitney, it would be a fitting honor for a man who gave up a lucrative private practice to ensure every family had access to lifesaving care for their babies.
“We got to know Dr. Sheldon Korones over the years, and he dedicated his life to making sure every child has the chance to live,” Kelly said. “We both owe these people our lives. If it hadn’t been for them, she would not be here. That’s the only reason she’s alive.”
“I’ll always love Regional One Health,” Whitney added. “I know that each day is a blessing, and it’s thanks to the doctors and nurses who saved me.”