Woman burned as a baby tracks down nurse who cared for her

For 38 years, a few black-and-white photographs have provided comfort to a woman who suffered significant burns as a baby and endured years of playground taunts and painful surgeries thereafter.

Once the picture became viral, another nurse, Angela Leary, formerly from Albany Medical, recognized the nurse in the picture as Susan Berger and identified her for Scarpinati. Scarpinati said that she treasured the photos and made several attempts to find the nurse.

The photos were taken by Carl Howard who was able to capture the unique moments when the nurse cared for the heavily bandaged baby girl. Scarpinati touchingly recalls looking at their pictures and talking to the woman holding her. Though she didn’t know who it was, Scarpinati says Berger looked true and loving.

She remembered thinking, “What A wonderful birthday gift this would be if I could actually at least get to talk her, and it’s even better that I got to meet her and hug her and she’s real”. “‘Does she really have to be discharged and go back to her unit now?”

“I held her in my arms and I do remember she sort of melted like butter and if she could have said anything to me, it probably would have been, ‘OK, I’m going to be OK, ‘” Berger says.

Scarpinati first shared the photo of the pair on Facebook last week and asked the media to do the same. She was working in the pediatric recovery room at the medical center. Scarpinati was 3-months-old when she rolled off a couch and was burned by a steam vaporizer on the floor. There was a picture of young and sweet nurse who was lovingly cradling a baby who had come in after being severely burnt.

The 38-year-old human resources manager from Athens said that the post had gone viral “with 5,000 shares across the country” within 12 hours. “She must have been in pain and she was so trusting and just a beautiful baby”.

Berger also seems youthful and upbeat, with shoulder-length blonde hair, slightly shorter than how she wore it in 1977. I feel privileged to be the one to represent all the nurses who cared for her over the years. “She just didn’t know”.

Scarpinati, who has a 12-year-old son, said: ‘It was amazing.

Ms Leary passed on Ms Berger’s information to a local news station, which tracked her down. It’s such a great reminder at the end of my career to think back at all the interactions I’ve had with patients, all of the things I’ve done.