Maya Rideout started out weighing just under two pounds, but this local fifth grader is turning into a political heavyweight.
She’s never forgotten where she spent the first few months of her inside the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at St. Louis Children’s Hospital.
Maya was just 1 pound 15 ounces when she was born, that's one-seventh the size of a normal baby.
Maya was facing a laundry list of potential health complications due to her size, but a decade later she is the picture of health and is constantly giving back to the tiniest babies.
Maya routinely travels to Jefferson City to lobby on behalf of premature babies. She’s even traveled to Washington D.C. to meet with Senator Claire McCaskill and Senator Roy Blunt pushing for legislation aimed at helping preemies.
She helped advocate for a new law signed by Missouri Governor Eric Greitens this past summer that establishes formal levels of neonatal and maternal care in Missouri hospitals.
Recently, Maya was on hand to help St. Louis Children’s Hospital celebrate its 10-year partnership with the March of Dimes. The March of Dimes offers mentoring, peer-to-peer counseling and other services to parents of NICU babies.
During the celebration, Maya was reunited with her NICU nurse, Melissa Weick, for the first time since she was discharged from the hospital a decade ago. The two immediately embraced.
“I haven’t seen you since I was born,” Maya exclaimed.
The two talked about Maya’s uphill battle all those years ago.
“I loved hearing her talk about taking care of me," Maya said. To think about it, it’s amazing.”
Weick said she was in awe of Maya’s efforts to help premature babies at the legislative level.
“[Maya] is the true definition of a miracle,” Weick said.
