A Nurse & The Preemie Whose Life She Saved Reunite 28 Years Later After Becoming Co-Workers
Both said the reunion brought new meaning to their work.
Iryna Inshyna | Shutterstock Life is full of near misses, inexplicable coincidences, and unexpected reunions, but every now and then, one comes along that is so unlikely that it seems truly remarkable.
Such is the story of nurse Vilma Wong and Dr. Brandon Seminatore, whose time as co-workers was the culmination of an extraordinary back story.
A nurse and the preemie she saved reunited as co-workers 28 years after she cared for him as a preemie.
Back in 2018, nurse Vilma Wong had been working as a neonatal intensive care nurse at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford University for 32 years. When yet another budding doctor began his residency on her team, it presumably seemed like just another day at the NICU for her.
But as soon as she heard the new pediatric neurology resident's name — Brandon Seminatore — she couldn't shake how familiar it sounded. It turned out that she wasn't the only one because Vilma's name rang a bell for Brandon, too.
The nurse never forgot the baby and immediately recognized his name.
As soon as they were introduced, Wong had to ask.
“His last name sounded very familiar,” she told the San Jose Mercury News. "I kept asking where he was from, and he told me that he was from San Jose, California, and that, as a matter of fact, he was a premature baby born at our hospital."
"I then got very suspicious because I remember being the primary nurse to a baby with the same last name," she went on to say. She then asked about one other detail she remembered about that baby, born at just 29 weeks at only two pounds and six ounces, whom she'd helped save so many years ago.
She recalled that the baby's father had been on San Jose's police force, so she decided to throw the question out there. "I asked him if his dad was a police officer," she said. And suddenly, a memory was triggered in Seminatore, too.
The preemie's parents told him to always remember the name Vilma in case he ever ran into the nurse who saved him.
"There was a big silence, and then he asked me if I was Vilma," Wong said. Seminatore told Stanford Magazine that his parents had told him as a child to always remember the name Vilma Wong in case he ever ran into the woman who took care of him as a 29-week preemie in 1990.
Now, she was standing in front of him at his new job — when Seminatore looked at Wong's nametag, he couldn't believe what he saw.
He immediately contacted his dad, who sent back a photo of the woman he was now working with holding him as a tiny preemie in the NICU all those years ago, on the day he had his breathing tube removed.
Wong recalled that at the time of the photo, Seminatore had just begun being able to eat without a feeding tube and was at last beginning to thrive. For Seminatore, meeting her was mind-blowing.
"Meeting Vilma was a surreal experience," he told ABC News. "I never expected to meet a provider who took care of me when I was a baby." For Wong, she said it felt "kind of like your reward" to meet the grown-up version of the tiny boy she, along with another nurse legendary to the Seminatore family, Kas Pilon, helped save.
The preemie-turned-doctor says Wong's care may have influenced his decision to become a caregiver himself.
Seminatore said at the time that he wondered if the lifelong knowledge of Wong's caregiving may have been part of what sparked an interest in pediatrics for his future career. Regardless, he found it inspiring as he embarked on his residency.
"We all try to give our patients the best chance to grow up happy and healthy," he said. "This story is for families with children who have had a rough start in life. I want to give them hope."
His mom, Laura Seminatore, was similarly overjoyed by their reunion and what it means for the future.
“It’s amazing that he did come full circle,” she told CBS. “I’m hoping that he will make an impact on future families the way that Vilma has made an impact on our family.”
From the sounds of it, Wong will be right alongside him doing so. She said in 2018 that at 54, she had no intention of retiring — she just loved her work too much. "I consider myself very lucky to be in a profession that I love," she said, "and to make a difference in somebody’s life."
John Sundholm is a writer, editor, and video personality with 20 years of experience in media and entertainment. He covers culture, mental health, and human interest topics.