created at: 2011-05-03Reposted with permission from CJP

Minutes after Nicole Spiewak gave birth to her second child, Noah, the baby was whisked away to the NICU at Newton-Wellesley Hospital. Nicole and husband Dan received the startling news that part of Noah’s esophagus was missing and his stomach was connected to his trachea instead of his esophagus, a birth defect called EA/TEF. Immediate surgery was required, and Noah was transferred to Children’s Hospital in Boston just four hours after being born.

“We were blindsided,” says Nicole, a psychotherapist turned stay-at-home mom.

As a mental health professional, without family nearby for support, she knew she needed to reach out for help. A social worker at Children’s connected Nicole with Visiting Moms®, a program of Jewish Family & Children’s Service that provides consistent support and companionship to new moms, regardless of faith or background.

CJP provides funding for the Visiting Moms® program—one of the many ways CJP helps members of the Jewish community and others in need.

Read more

Photo Credit: Doug Owens

This post has been contributed by a third party. The opinions, facts and any media content are presented solely by the author, and JewishBoston assumes no responsibility for them. Want to add your voice to the conversation? Publish your own post here. MORE