How We Met In The NICU

From Evelyn: How We Met Jessica and Peter

Juan and Peter met first and exchanged numbers. Peter would text Juan encouraging words and  check up on him to make sure he was hanging in there and to let him know that he was there for  support. Jessica and I met during one of our visits to Mateo, we were with our little boy as we  usually were, when they walked out of Jacob’s room. I remember feeling a sense of peace talking  to them about our tiny warriors. Jacob’s incredible progress gave us so much hope due to the  similarity of their births. Shortly after meeting them, Jacob was moved to another room in a 

different section of the NICU, so we never got to see them during our hospital stay again. Peter and Juan stayed in touch occasionally via text and Jessica and I eventually became Facebook friends.  

The thought of having a nonprofit to honor Mateo’s life was placed in my heart shortly after his  passing but it didn’t take full force until three months after my son Lucca was born. In January  2021 late at night I felt the urge to talk to Jessica after signing a contract with nonprofit lawyers  to tell her about my plans and ask her if she’d like to join me. Now here we are today having  made this idea to honor the memory of my son, Mateo David Cardona, with the reality that is  Tiny Warriors Foundation. A foundation to help families endure their NICU experiences.  

From Jessica: How We Met Evelyn and Juan

I recall that Jacob’s room was right in front of Mateo’s room. I remember one night coming out  of Jacob’s room with Peter and we were heading to the cafeteria to grab some dinner, when  coming towards us was Evelyn and Juan. My husband had previously met Juan and I was first  introduced to Evelyn that night. I recall talking to them that night about how Mateo’s progress  was. We stood there in the middle of the hallway, while the nurses looked at us crazy for speaking to  other parents, talking to them about having faith and tried to give them the hope that I wished someone had given me. We talked for a few minutes and then we went off to grab dinner. 

During dinner my husband and I had conversed about getting Mateo a similar musical owl that we had purchased for Jacob so that Evelyn and Juan could place it in Mateo’s room. That same night we made the purchase and waited for the item to arrive. Unfortunately, a couple of days later, Jacob was moved from the room across the hall from Mateo and we were placed in a different wing, so we did not see Evelyn and Juan. A couple of days after our move to the new wing, my husband and I received the owl and were excited to give it to Juan and Evelyn. When we got to the hospital, while I was being briefed on Jacob’s upcoming surgery, my husband reached out to Juan asking  him if we could meet with them. I remember turning around when I heard my husband tell me he didn’t make it, and my husband began to cry. My heart shattered to know that Mateo was no longer with us. My husband and I cried for them and thought about the pain and heartache that they were going through. My husband and I said a prayer for Mateo, Evelyn, and Juan. 

After Mateo’s passing, my husband would reach out to Juan from time to time to check to see  how they were doing. A few months later, Evelyn and I became friends on Facebook. Shortly  thereafter, I was talking to her about being pregnant with Lucca. We were so excited to attend  their virtual gender reveal party and we also attended their virtual baby shower. We were ecstatic  for them, that they were blessed with Lucca. It was because of the NICU, that we were able to  connect and form a friendship.  

On the evening of January 29, 2021, I recall Evelyn giving me a call to ask me if I wanted to embark  with her on this journey of helping people out that are going through the same journey as us. We talked about her vision of the non-profit and I was in tears that she thought about me and was not hesitant to join her. I just remember how hard the journey through the NICU was and whatever we could do to give back, I was up for it. I also recall that once I left the NICU, there were no other resources available to me. I had to do research online and had to push to get therapies for my son. It was a frustrating process doing it alone, but it taught me to listen to my gut feeling and to advocate for my son. Therefore, I was happy that Evelyn wanted me to help her with this project. It is simply crazy to think that through our darkest moments, we were able to pull through and thankfully for Evelyn, we are going to be able to assist families to give them the support they need.