PHOENIX - A rare laughter is ringing out in the NICU at Banner University Medical Center in Phoenix. Nurse Heather Laubmeier is showing Catherine Mills around as she contemplates a career in nursing.
Life is coming full circle for the 21-year-old college senior from Phoenix. Mills is back in the same hospital wing where her life began more than two decades ago.
"From my experience in the NICU and from knowing nurse Heather, I would just love spending my life giving back and doing the same thing she does," Mills said.
Twenty-one years ago, Catherine was born with a rare abdominal birth defect called Omphalocele.
Those first few months and years were a struggle for the Mills family. Multiple surgeries and several near-death moments have since given way a happy and healthy college senior. Those times of struggle have also inadvertently shaped Catherine's career path.
"I'm looking at possibly going into an accelerated nursing program," Mills said on the day before she returned to Denver for her senior year.
Now, coming back to the NICU where her life was saved is a surreal experience.
"I think it was amazing to see Nurse Heather still works here, 21 years later is amazing," Mills said.
Maybe it's a calling, or maybe it's just life coming full circle. Either way, it's an experience nobody involved wanted at the time, but might be the most impactful part of their lives.