From the NICU to the altar: Two preemie babies found love, 28 years after being each others’ first friend
On July 19, 1996, Sherry Krambeck grimly wandered the halls of the hospital where her daughter was just born at 31 weeks. After being born, her daughter, Rachel, was rushed down to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.
Sitting in the NICU hallway was Audra Sackey, whose son, Hayden, weighed just over one pound and was also in the NICU at Corewell Health Dearborn Hospital, which was formerly known as Oakwood Hospital.
"Hi, how are you," Krambeck recalled Sackey saying. "My son, Hayden, was born ten days ago."
The two conversed about their babies, who were roommates in the NICU, and those shared words and experience led to a friendship that has lasted 28 years and blossomed into the two becoming in-laws.
Being a mother of a NICU baby was extremely difficult, though. Everyday, Sackey, Krambeck and a plethora of other mothers showed up to the hospital early in the morning, scrubbed, put on a sterile gown and went in to sit next to their babies, many of whom couldn't even be held.
Valerie Halt-Williams, the clinical manager at the NICU, said she remembers Sackey and Krambeck well.
"They were both very attentive moms. They were there every day, rain or shine, they were there all day," she said.
Soon after being born, Krambeck's daughter, Rachel, was found to have hydrocephalus, or fluid on her brain. So, the doctors put a temporary shunt into the top of her head, draining the fluid from her brain every day.
"Oh my God, here I am, this young mom at 27," Krambeck recalled thinking to herself. "Is she going to live? Is she going to die? What's going on?"
After growing from two pounds and seven ounces to five pounds, Rachel was able to leave the NICU in Dearborn. Krambeck took Rachel to the Detroit Children's Hospital for a permanent shunt.
Even though Rachel was no longer in the NICU, Krambeck and Sackey stayed in touch.
They took turns watching each others' babies and changed each others' kids' diapers. They also went back to the NICU periodically on Halloween for a party thrown by the hospital for the NICU alumni.
"It was nice for us to see as they're growing and developing," Halt-Williams said. "It's just a nice, warm feeling to know that you were a part of that."
They attended each others' birthday parties each year until 2007 when Sherry Krambeck and Rachel moved to Indiana.
"We didn't really see each other, like, in their teenage years," Krambeck said.
In 2014, though, Audra Sackey called Sherry Krambeck.
"Sherry, Hayden needs a date to the prom," Krambeck recalled Sackey saying. "I was like, should we set up like a first date?"
So, then-17-year-olds Rachel and Hayden were given each others' phone numbers by their parents.
From then on, the two experienced a true, 2010s romance — staying up all night texting each other. As spring break rolled around, Rachel knew that she wanted to surprise Hayden in Michigan so they could go on their first date.
When that day rolled around, as Rachel was curling her hair at her grandmother's house in Michigan she passed out.
Krambeck was terrified that it was some sort of malfunction with Rachel's permanent shunt, so she rushed her to the hospital — the same one where her and Hayden were born 17 years earlier.
"Hey, I'm sorry, I'm in the hospital. We will have to reschedule our date," Rachel recalled texting Hayden, who was out with his friends.
Hayden Sackey dropped everything and rushed to the hospital where Rachel was. He burst through the door of Rachel's emergency room and gave her a hug.
Rachel said sparks flew.
"Oh my gosh, like, he's actually real and he was just, like, as sweet as he was, like, talking on FaceTime," she said. "I was shaking, I was scared, nervous and then as soon as he walked in, all of that went away."
It turned out Rachel was dehydrated and the combination of that and the nerves and excitement of finally going on a date with Hayden led her to pass out. So, she was safely discharged from the hospital.
The two went on to attend prom together and began dating. They finished high school and Hayden decided to attend school in Michigan, while Rachel chose a school in Indiana. They were in a long distance relationship from 2014 until 2021 when Rachel accepted a nursing job in Michigan.
In December 2022, Audra Sackey drove Rachel up to Frankenmuth for lunch. They were going to check out the stores and wander downtown together. Sackey suggested her and Rachel walk onto a bridge there to take some photos to commemorate the girls day. On the bridge, she was walking with her head down, just trying to focus on not walking into anyone. She sensed someone close to her who was not giving her enough space to walk past. She looked up and realized it was Hayden Sackey.
He got down on one knee and asked his NICU roommate and longtime best friend to be his wife, and she responded with a resounding "yes."
Hayden and Rachel Sackey got married on Sept. 7, 2024. They now live in Northville.
About a month after being married, the Sackeys went back to the NICU in Dearborn with their mothers for the annual Halloween party.
They looked around at the babies and Rachel Sackey said she couldn't believe that her and her husband were once that small.
The same nurses that were there when Sherry Krambeck and Audra Sackey first met were overjoyed to see two of their NICU babies happily married 28 years after being born prematurely.
