VALHALLA – Tamaya Berry
was only nine ounces when she was born at St. Luke’s Cornwall Hospital
in Newburgh one year ago, on April 25. She was rushed to the Maria Fareri
Children’s Hospital,a member of the Westchester Medical Center Health
Network -a 10-hospital system – where she was cared for in the regional
Neonatal Intensive Care Unit for six months.
At birth weight of about nine ounces, Tamaya weighed only as much as
two iPhones. When she went home a half year later, Tamaya weighed 7 pounds,
12 ounces.
On Thursday, the hospital threw a first birthday party for Tamaya, who doctors say is developing normally. But the first six months of her life was a harrowing experience for her mother, Dominique Fevrier of Poughkeepsie.
“I just had to keep faith and keep praying,” Fevrier said. “I am a big God person; I am very religious. A lot of people in my family beat death so seeing her survive and being her mother, I can’t do anything more than.”
Dr. Boriana Parvez, one of the physicians who cared for Tamaya, said she was one of the smallest babies ever born in New York State who survived.
Her mom has two other children and her dad, Tyquan Berry, has five for a total of eight kids.
Now healthy Tamaya and her parents, right, with Edmund LaGamma, MD, Chief, Newborn Medicine, and
Sue Malfa, RN, Nurse Manager, Regional Neonatal Intensive Care Unit
