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They met as premature babies. Now the Northville couple are starting a life together

Online Niel October 30, 2024

Dearborn — Few couples have a date as cute as Hayden and Rachel Sackey of Northville, who have literally known each other their entire lives.

Born just 10 days apart in July 1996 in the Corewell Health Neonatal Intensive Care Unit in Dearborn, they stayed in touch throughout their lives after their mothers befriended each other.

And now they are newlyweds. On Tuesday, the couple, both 28, who married in September, visited the NICU where their love story began. They visited some of the nurses who cared for them and saw babies celebrating their first Halloween in costumes made by the nursing staff. It was the couple’s first visit back to the NICU in 10 years.

Side by side with his wife, who wore a white dress and even a small veil for their special visit, Hayden said it was “surreal” to be back. The couple, accompanied by their mothers, encouraged other families facing the roller coaster of life in the NICU to stay positive and take things one day at a time.

“I can’t put it into words enough, just seeing those guys out there just hanging on,” Hayden said. “It’s amazing, unbelievable.”

Hayden and Rachel’s moms, Audra Sackey and Sherry Krambeck, became fast friends in the NICU after their babies were born prematurely at just over one pound and two pounds, respectively.

Krambeck, who welcomed Rachel 10 days after Hayden was born, called Sackey her “welcoming committee.”

“She basically showed me the ropes and welcomed me, and we’ve been friends since that day,” she said.

Krambeck said that even when their children were young, she and Sackey sometimes conspired about the possibility of their children ending up together, but “it kind of happened naturally.”

Health challenges

Rachel, who was born 27 weeks after her mother developed preeclampsia, was born with hydrocephalus, a condition where fluid builds up in the brain. Eventually, he needed what’s called a ventriculoperitoneal shunt, or VP, to drain the fluid. She spent three months in the NICU.

Hayden, meanwhile, was born when his mother was 29 weeks pregnant and also spent three months in the NICU. He has faced his own struggles and is hard of hearing, according to his mother, Audra.

Hayden and Rachel grew up attending each other’s birthdays and Halloween parties in the Dearborn NICU until the Krambeck family moved to Indiana in 2006. Sackey, who now lives in Newport, Monroe County, and Krambeck, who lives in Lowell , Indiana, maintained their friendship. , and in 2014, Hayden needed a date to his senior prom. Krambeck was quick to volunteer his daughter.

“I set it up. There was no gift. I didn’t even consult them,” Krambeck said. “We set up the first meeting. They went to prom and have been together ever since.”

Rachel remembered her mom giving Hayden her number and said they texted all night.

“The last time I saw him in person was probably 2006, before I moved to Indiana, and it was at my last birthday party, and then I didn’t see him until our prom,” Rachel said. “We had so much in common, we clicked right away, and the rest is history.”

Continuing links with the NICU

Before they went to prom together, Rachel said she planned to surprise Hayden with a visit. She was already staying with her sister in Michigan on spring break and getting ready to see him for the first time in seven years when she passed out.

Concerned that something was wrong with her shunt, Rachel went to the emergency department. Hayden dropped everything to go to the hospital and be with her that day.

“It was really nice to have all the support and to have him come in and hug me for the first time,” Rachel said.

The pair returned to the NICU on their way to prom to take photos and surprise some of the nurses, like Valerie Halt-Williams, who cared for them as babies.

Hart-Williams, who is now the clinical manager of the Dearborn NICU, said she still remembers caring for Hayden and Rachel and their mothers being there in the NICU every day.

“When you’re a nurse in this department, you’re not just taking care of babies, you’re taking care of the whole family,” Hart-Williams said. “When you’re here, as long as they were… they all assimilate together. We’re all one family and we all have the same goal of sending you home.”

Krambeck was so inspired by the care team that helped care for her and Rachel that she decided to become a nurse herself. And Rachel followed these steps and now works as a neurology nurse.

“I feel like this is a whole journey. It is a journey about health care. It’s a journey about the impact nurses have on us. It’s a journey about what can happen when these parents have no hope and fear — that something good can come out of it,” Krambeck said.

Rachel and Hayden dated for the next 10 years, six of which were long distance between Michigan and Indiana, and married on September 6. Tuesday’s meeting at the NICU was emotional for everyone. Audra Sackey choked up just walking back into the facility and said she’ll never forget her time there.

“With all the adversity that we see in our world, but to know these mothers, for these mothers to know that they are not alone and that things do get better and that there are obstacles that you can overcome and that’s okay, and you can do it without fear and just to have hope,” Krambeck said.

Rachel said she and Hayden are enjoying every moment together and have learned to take nothing for granted. Now they are looking to the future, buying a house and planning to have children.

“I’m so grateful for everyone here and to see all the mothers who are here today with their little children, to see them grow up. It’s really cool,” Rachel said. “Stay positive. Take it day by day.”

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