Nurse saved baby who got 3rd degree burns — 38 years later, a Facebook post by survivor transformed their lives
People who save others' lives deserve all the appreciation and gratitude in the world. Those people are the ones who give others a second chance at their lives. Similarly, Amanda Scarpinati has tirelessly searched for a certain Susan Berger for almost 40 years, per Spectrum News. Berger had played an important role in the early days of Scarpinati's life when she fell victim to an accident. Miraculously, Scarpinati's search ended at a fruitful conclusion when she got in touch with Berger in 2015, just after turning 37.
Berger used to be a nurse at the Albany Medical Center, New York, more than 40 years ago. Scarpinati was admitted to the hospital after she had suffered third-degree burns as a baby. While trying to locate Berger, Scarpinati shared a post on her Facebook profile, writing certain details about Scarpinati and sharing the unfortunate event that almost took her life. "I was sick, placed on a couch and a hot steam humidifier was placed on the floor next to the couch. I was left unattended and rolled off the couch and fell on the humidifier, on top of where the steam came out," Scarpinati recalled.
To return to normalcy, Scarpinati had to undergo several surgeries till she was 21. "These are pictures of me as a baby while I was being treated at Albany Medical Center for 3rd-degree burns in Albany, NY," she captioned her post, describing the faded images of a Berger holding Scarpinati as a baby. "I tried almost 20 years ago to find out who the nurse is holding me but had no luck. Maybe now, with the powers of social media, someone will recognize her. This was from 1977. I would love to know her name and possibly get a chance to talk to her and meet her."
The pictures shared by Scarpinati were from the 1977 cover page of the hospital report. The pictures were circulated all over social media by strangers and a former nurse from Albany Medical Center, ultimately recognized Berger. After establishing communication, Berger flew from Cazenovia, Madison County to Albany and the women could finally reunite. The power of social media ultimately helped the two women to connect. "I picked her up and she just melted in my arms," Berger recalled, per the outlet. "If she could speak, she would have said, 'Ok, I'm gonna be ok now.'"
"It's such a great reminder at the end of my career to think back on all of the interactions that I've had with patients, all of the things that I've done," Berger shared. "It made me put aside the hard work and the times it was stressful and think about this. This is the best part." Berger had continued to work as a nurse in Madison County when she reunited with Scarpinati. Scarpinati also elaborated on growing up with burn marks. She was bullied in school, but she managed to forgive them after one of her bullies reached out to apologize.
The comment section of the Facebook post was deeply invested in Scarpinati and Berger's story. Marcia Cameron Puorro exclaimed, "Oh my god! I never knew that and you'd never know you were that burnt!" Lisa Scarpinati Davis added, "I've known you for how long and never knew this. But those humidifiers were bad. One of our friends' babies did similar. Put his hand over steam." Jo Ann Scott wrote, "That just brings back so many bad memories and tears my heart out. I hope you find her."