Monmouth Medical Center ‘NICU Mom’ Shares Exceptional Care Experience for World Prematurity Day
John Heeseman is shown in a recent family photo with his parents, Kate and Eric.
Long Branch, N.J., November 17, 2025 – November 17 marks World Prematurity Day, an observance dedicated to raising awareness about premature birth, its impact on babies and their families, and promote actions to improve care and support for preterm infants worldwide.
Nearly six decades ago, the Hirair and Anna Hovnanian Foundation Regional Newborn Center at The Unterberg Children’s Hospital at Monmouth Medical Center (MMC) made history in New Jersey when it dedicated the state’s first neonatal intensive care unit to meet the needs of infants born too early or too small, or who require special care or surgery. Today, it boasts the region’s largest state-designated, level III NICU with one of the highest survival rates in the country. Staff members include board-certified neonatologists, specially trained nurse practitioners and neonatal nurses, therapists, social workers, technologists and a broad range of subspecialists including pediatric surgeons and radiologists.
The Hirair and Anna Hovnanian Foundation Regional Newborn Center (RNC) provides specialized care for more than 500 babies annually – some weighing less than a pound. For babies born at MMC and then cared for in the NICU, a hallway connecting the maternity unit and RNC was dedicated in recent years as the Hall of Hope, designed to give hope to new parents of tiny fragile babies by sharing stories and photos of critically ill premature babies who not only survived, but went on to thrive after their stay in the NICU.
The observance of World Prematurity Day also provides an opportunity to amplify the voices of NICU families like the Heesemans, whose son, John, was born at MMC three months early and weighed only about 2 pounds. After learning of MMC’s Hall of Hope, Brielle resident Kate Heeseman reached out to share her own story of hope in John, who is now a healthy and happy 26-year-old. After earning a degree in Engineering Mechanics from Penn State University, he is excelling as a graduate student in Newport News, Va., where he is working while pursuing a master’s degree in materials science and engineering.
A young first-time mom at 21, Kate said she was experiencing a perfectly normal pregnancy until she started experiencing some cramping and discharge. While her doctor told her the symptoms were normal, when the pain intensified and she went to her local hospital, she learned that she was dilated and in active labor and was brought by ambulance to Monmouth Medical Center. On August 9th, she delivered John, a micro preemie who was not due until November 3rd.
She recalls the more than two months John spent in MMC’s NICU and how the doctors and nurses worked diligently to help her son grow and eventually, go home.
“I really don’t have the words to describe all of the care, and follow-up care, we received,” she said. “When John was in the NICU, I was there all the time, and the nurses were constantly checking on me, asking if I was o.k.”
Meera Kale, M.D., chief of neonatology and medical director of the Hirair and Anna Hovnanian Foundation Regional Newborn Center, notes that while the NICU is a place where the hospital’s tiniest, most fragile patients receive constant monitoring and 24-hour care from a team of dedicated health care providers, the focus of the unit is on parents as well as babies.
“Parents are often here with their babies for extended periods – four to eight weeks or more, so family comfort is a top priority,” Dr. Kale says.
This priority is evident through conversations with parents like Kate, whose children spent a significant time in the NICU, who remember how difficult of a time it was, but also how positive the experience turned out to be, due to the unit’s extraordinary caregivers.
“I was so young, and everyone in the NICU made me feel as comfortable as possible during what was a very difficult time,” she said. “Monmouth Medical Center saved my son’s life, and the training they gave me to be able to take care of him was incredible. The hospital, and the care they give, is amazing.”
She adds that the nurses would guide her in caring for Johan, letting her hold the syringe for his feeding tube.
“I was able to feel like I was feeding my baby,” she said. “The interaction they give parents – that allowed me to develop an incredible bond with my son, which is hard to do in the NICU. My husband and I will be forever grateful to the nurses and doctors in the NICU; to this day, we won’t go anywhere else for care than Monmouth Medical Center.”
Kate, a certified medical coder who is studying to be a paralegal, said despite John’s tiny size, he was only on a ventilator for a day and a half, breathing during his NICU stay with the assistance of a nasal cannula. He underwent surgeries for a double-incarcerated hernia and hermangioma on his back and forehead and was discharged on October 14th. Noting he had no enamel on his teeth due to his prematurity, she said he also underwent corrective dental surgery at MMC at age 2.
“He came home on a sleep apnea machine, and the NICU set me up with a visiting nurse who came to the house,” she said.
She notes that the NICU staff also set her up with MMC’s outpatient Regional Newborn Extension Program, where John had regular follow-up visits following his discharge to ensure his development was normal.”
“I was so worried he would have issues with developmental delays, but he had absolutely no issues,” she said. “In high school he was on the golf and debate teams and was a peer leader, and he came in first place in the state in a NJ Corps of Engineering challenge in which he created an eco-track system.”
“John has grown up to be such an incredible person, and he would not be here without the care he received in the NICU,” said Kate, who lives in Brielle with John’s father, her husband Eric.
Learn more about the Hirair and Anna Hovnanian Foundation Regional Newborn Center,