AMHERST, N.Y. (WKBW) — Mikey Barone was born at just 25 weeks. He spent the first 572 days of his life in the hospital.After finding a home nurse, he was finally able to come home.Now, 3-year-old Mikey has spent more time living at home than he had in the hospital. 590 days to be exact. His parents count every day as a blessing.
“He's just a normal toddler now,” Kristine Barone, Mikey’s mom, said.
Mikey happily crawls, climbs, and claps the day away.
“This is what being a mom is about… celebrating these little victories. All of these little things are big things when you take it for granted,” Kristine said. But that's not how his life started.
“In the beginning they would tell you they didn't think he would last through the night sometimes. We'd be at the point where we were living at the hospital just being close by and being there for him,” Michael Barone, Mikey’s dad said.
“Mikey was born at 25 weeks. He was on a ventilator and high oxygen pretty much his full entire life,” Kristine said.
After 19 months, Mikey finally came home. That's when they started weening him off his ventilator. Now, he only needs it at night.
“Now that he's actually able to get off the ventilator and crawl around and that his lungs could actually handle his daily activity it's definitely been a miracle for us,” Michael said.
“It's beyond a dream come true. It's a miracle obviously,” Kristine said.
Now mom and dad can't wait to see what's next for their curious guy.
“We're excited for the future now. Before we were apprehensive but now we're just getting excited,” Kristine said.
And Mikey's ready to keep his parents.. On their toes.
