Melissa & Brett Collins | Personal Journey of Strength, Determination, and Advocacy for Their 24-weekers

The NICU journey can bring people into your life you never expected. I’ll never forget the day I met our next guests walking through the halls of the NICU. Melissa was wearing a Penn State sweatshirt and I said “We Are” walking past. That opened the door for us to connect with each other and we have stayed in touch for nearly 11 years. While our personal NICU journeys were different, we share a common bond of the NICU. Brett and Melissa have a special story to share of strength, determination, and dedication doing all they could do to advocate for their sons born at 24 weeks 5 days.On this episode: • Melissa and Brett share their journey with you; from pregnancy to the NICU.  • Melissa and Brett discuss how they made it through ‘one day at a time.’ • Melissa and Brett share their boys’ NICU journeys with you. • We will hear about the steps Melissa and Brett took to work through the difficult decisions. • Brett talks about his perspective as a NICU dad and his approach to the NICU journey. • Melissa and Brett share what it looked like bringing Brody and Cameron home • Melissa shares how her career changed and what it was like going back to work after 3 years. • Melissa and Brett share what co-parenting looks like for them, now that they are no longer together. • You will hear about what the boys’ therapies look like post-NICU, and how Melissa and Brett found the right specialists. • You will hear about some potential clinical trials in the NICU space, as well as how you can get into them. • Melissa and Brett offer their one piece of advice for families navigating a similar NICU journey.Please subscribe to NICU Today: A podcast by TODAY is a Good Day Podcast, wherever you enjoy your podcasts, or on our YouTube channel.