Adds Chris, “I think Tara fought more for him when he was inside her. But I felt like I could do more for him when he was out.” Johnny was kept in the NICU for five months. Still small and under-developed, using every ounce of his strength just to breathe, Johnny made it through this crucial stage of his life. Now he needed specialized rehabilitation. Tara and Chris were given the choice of sending Johnny to Hershey Medical Center or to The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. A NICU nurse recommended the Good Shepherd Rehabilitation Hospital Pediatric Unit which neither Tara nor Chris had heard of. The Webbs decided to check out Good Shepherd before making a final decision. It was much closer to home, making it easier to juggle the needs of their other three children ages one, two and nine, but would it be the best place for baby Johnny?
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Clockwise from top: Going home after five months; Christmas smiles all around in 2013; with Rosauro Dalope, M.D. at Good Shepherd.
“I wanted to know that he was going to be in a place that was happy and caring, a family atmosphere and not a sterile atmosphere,” says Tara. “I loved it to pieces. But what sold me was at the end of the tour when Jennifer (Gossler, R.N.) asked to see a picture of Johnny. I was really excited at that point and Johnny was transferred less than one week later.” Johnny’s weight had increased to 10 pounds when he arrived at Good Shepherd on May 6, 2013, but he remained medically fragile. “His lungs still required oxygen, he required a number of medications and he was barely doing anything we’d expect for a baby his age,” says Rosauro Dalope, M.D., interim