The 30-year-old Jess Hamm from Florida has been working at as a nurse in the pediatric intensive care department of Wolfson Children’s Hospital in Jacksonville for a couple of years and her heart broke when she first saw the young Delilah being admitted in the hospital.
It was clear that Delilah was in immediate need of medical assistance.
She was fourteen months old, but only weighed eleven pounds. Delilah was severely abused and malnourished, and Jess recalls that she couldn’t even sit or hold a bottle because she simply didn’t have the strength to do so.
“My heart was broken. I don’t want to cry. She was just so lifeless, but she still held onto my finger,” the pediatric nurse recalls. “She had a broken femur, multiple fractures in all of her extremities. She was very malnourished. She was 14 months and about 11 pounds, so she was just skin and bones.”
Aside from her severe malnourishment, Delilah also suffered from multiple broken bones and her skull was even fractured.
“I was like ‘oh my gosh, I’m going to take her home,’” Hamm thought when she was holding Delilah’s hand. “I already love you.”
It’s clear that these two had a connection and nurse Jess wanted to take Delilah home with her.
What she didn’t know, however, is that Delilah’s twin sister Caroline was also admitted to the hospital for the same reasons.
She found out about Delilah’s twin sister while she was preparing the paperwork for the Florida Department of Children and Families to make the adoption official. When she heard about Caroline, she wanted to take care of both of them as a loving mother.
“I gave him [the social worker at the FDCF] all my information and a few hours later he called me and that same day he came to my home. That was Friday,” Jess recalls. “The following Monday I was approved and I brought Caroline home. That was actually the day I got to meet [her].”
And the heartwarming story doesn’t end there. As soon as the other nurses found out that Jess would be adopting these two young twins, they worked as a team to gather enough clothes, toys and other items for Jess and her two adorable children.
Even though Delilah and Caroline finally had a future now, Delilah wasn’t medically out of the woods yet. Because of the skull fracture, doctors would need to place a drain in her brain, a risky procedure.
“To be honest I didn’t know what kind of state she was gonna come out in,” Hamm said. “If she was developmentally delayed, If she was even going to survive the injury. So that first month was very stressful. She wasn’t eating. She wasn’t really responsive. I mean she would smile a little bit. She would hold your hand but she was so weak,” Jess recalls.
However, Delilah’s fighting spirit was unstoppable. Just a month after her surgery, she already went home.
“She’s walking now. She’s talking. She’s a great eater,” their mom said. “You wouldn’t even know that she has gone through the trauma that she’s been through. I might be biased, but I think they are doing amazingly.”
Delilah and Caroline get along well but definitely have their own distinctive personalities. Caroline enjoys helping others while Delilah loves spreading the love by sharing kisses.
“They’ve been through so much. They’re completely different kids. If you had met them when I met them you’d be amazed,” their mom explained.
The new family is now planning a trip to Disney World and the three of them couldn’t be any happier.
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