[KHTS] – Hundreds of families filled Richard Rioux Park in Stevenson Ranch on Saturday to celebrate the third anniversary of Henry Mayo’s Kim and Steven Ullman Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.

The NICU asks all families to come back and celebrate the fact that their babies are growing and are healthy and that the NICU is no longer a part of their lives, according to hospital officials.

“When you take care of a baby for months and months at a time, you fall in love with them and they become a part of you and you never really forget them,” said Sherry Zamudio, NICU RN and NICU Reunion Committee Chair. “We have to say goodbye to them at times, but then we get to bring them back every year and see how they’ve grown up and what they look like now. It’s just a big celebration, even the smallest little guys are the strongest and it’s just amazing.”

Invitees at the event included babies who received care at NICU during the past three years, and their families, physicians, nurses, donors and members of the community.

This year over 500 people celebrated, the largest turnout yet.

About 60 people attended the first year, and about 250 people attended the year after, according to Zamudio.

“Seeing everybody come back (is my favorite part about today.) In the NICU, there’s a lot of great moments and there’s a lot of sad moments but when you come back here and you see these little kids that were so sick and now they’re healthy, it puts meaning to why we do this. For me, it’s proudest day of being a nurse to come back and see these kids running and laughing and talking and they’re OK and they’re healthy and I feel so blessed to be a part of it.”

The theme of the event was superheroes “because we’re celebrating life and the inner strength of everybody here.,” said Zamudio. “We just thought, what a great theme for this because everybody here is a superhero, everybody here has been through a lot and yet they’ve survived and they are doing amazing and we’re just proud of them all.”

Niki Thomlinson and her three young children were at the event because her nine month old son, Lincoln was in NICU for 30 days, “he’s doing fantastic and we couldn’t be more thankful.”

Zamudio went on to say that, “it takes superhero strength to be a parent of a NICU baby, they go through a lot of ups and downs. It takes superhero strength to be a nurse and a doctor because every day it is a challenge to get these babies to be well, but more importantly it takes a superhero to be a NICU baby because they have to survive a lot of things.”

About Henry Mayo

Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital is a 238-bed not-for-profit acute care hospital serving the Santa Clarita Valley since 1975. Henry Mayo is an Advanced Primary Stroke Center and a STEMI Receiving Center. The hospital features state-of-the-art Inpatient facilities, a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, Catheterization Lab, Infusion Center, Breast Imaging Center and an Outpatient Surgery Center.