Twins Avery and Noah Lane had a unique request for their seventh birthday. Instead of presents from friends and family, they asked for donations to Memorial Medical Center’s Special Care Nursery.

In March 2008, Avery and Noah were born five weeks early and spent about 14 days in the nursery due to eating and breathing complications after birth. They have seen pictures and heard stories about that time in their life, but wanted to see in-person where they were born.

On April 27, the young twins presented $150 to Sue McCarty, nurse manager of Family Maternity Suites, after seeing the room where they stayed as newborns.

“Noah has always asked lots of questions about hospitals and where he was born,” said Brandy Lane, their mother. “Whenever we are driving in the area their dad and I always point out the hospital and tell them that's where they were born and stayed because they were sick."

The idea for donations in lieu of presents came about after attending the birthday party of a friend who asked for donations to an animal shelter.

“We have a lot of toys and don’t need more,” Noah said.

Their dad, Michael, suggested the Special Care Nursery for the donations.

Avery liked her dad’s idea and said “I want to help the babies and kids who are sick at the hospital.”

During the visit to the Special Care Nursery, Memorial’s staff showed a photo of the twins taken seven years earlier by a nurse on the day Avery and Noah were discharged. They also talked to two nurses who took care of them while they were patients.

“Michael and I are very grateful for the care the kids received after they were born.  It was so hard when I was discharged and we had to leave the hospital without them,” Brandy said.  “We were there every day to spend time with them and our parents were able to visit them also. We called every night to check on them before we went to bed and the nurses would give us a rundown of everything since we had last seen them. The staff never made us feel like we were bothering or interrupting them even though we know they were busy with their patients.”

View pictures on the Foundation's Facebook page.