Gulf Shores, Ala. – (OBA) – All mothers long to hear these words after giving birth, “you’re released from the hospital and free to go home.” These are words that might fall easy on the ear, but for new mother Ricki Ann Gandy they would forever change her way of life. Three days after Gandy gave birth to her son Oliver “Ollie” the doctors sent her home without her precious baby boy. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), more than 1 in 10 babies are born premature and will live their early days separated from Mom and in NICU. For Gandy, this didn’t come as any surprise. She checked in knowing this would be the outcome. “My sister has two premies and my brother has two, I thought I was prepared,” Gandy recollects. Once settled in at home, she realized quickly she would need more mates for the harrowing journey she faced and decided to seek help. In a true new media age style, she went straight to social and started searching for support groups on the popular social networking service Facebook. 

Heather Cagle Snarey mother to Bennett Andrew “Bennie” nearly 30 hours and 2,000 miles east of Alabama, sees the post in California and immediately responds. Snarey was trekking the same new and scary path as Gandy and just so happened to be a little ahead with her hike. These little details would turn out to be the foundation and Snarey the glue to an incredible friendship and personal support connect for the two families and extended. 

Within weeks of the two Moms finding one another through Facebook, connecting with others in the support group, they began talking on the phone even FaceTiming. Almost one year later, 324 days after being born, Ollie was healthy enough to come home. Right away, the connection the parents had been building extended to Ollie and Bennie  “We started FaceTiming the boys.” Over the years, these two families have navigated the ups and downs, and ins and outs of the “preemie life” together. Gandy explains that the whole family bonded from parents to siblings and “that is so neat, like we’ve known them our whole lives.” 

At the beginning of the Covid-19 outbreak, Ollie was still in the hospital on oxygen, struggling to take to a bottle. Things began to look grim for the Gandy’s. One of the main positive contributors to support groups is experience or “sister references” in this particular group, especially and to offer advice on what to ask, forte doctor referrals, and other routes for different families to take. They were able to secure a feeding tube for Ollie, and thankfully he went home in April, just one month after business and life as we all knew it began to shut down in most public places. Gandy states, “If it wouldn’t have been for covid we would probably have met beforehand”.

Fast-forward to today, the boys, both living healthy, always cautious lives, finally got the chance to meet in person this June. Gandy lives north of Coastal Alabama and Snarey about 45 minutes from Coastal California. After seeing pictures of the white sandy beaches on the Gulf Coast, Snarey expressed she wanted to make the trip here and for all to enjoy the beach together. Gandy’s sister lives in Pensacola and has a boat offering the full coastal experience, so she moved fast to find a place where the family could stay, and they landed in Gulf Shores. When the time came for the families to meet, they all expected to cry or at the very least pause to reel it all in. Instead, it was like seeing old friends or family when the boys caught eyes, “They just ran to each other.” 

After four years of trials, tears, and FaceTiming the two preemie families finally got an opportunity to come together for a week of coastal adventures, making some epic memory stops along the way. They visited the renowned Flora Bama, cruised around the back bays to eclectic Pirates Cove, and made a stop at Robinson Island for the full local experience. The group made what is now an obligatory stop in Gulf Shores at the Hangout and let the boys play in the foam bubbles, not neglecting to take several landmark photos. The ladies have already started planning for a re-visit to take place in the next two months. Gandy said she discussed with Snarey before departing how they could not just see each other and go back to business as usual. She expressed that now they would need to meet more often and not let it be another year. To which Snarey replied, “I know” and began explaining how she was already sending photos to her parents saying, “we’ve got to move here!” The family is now discussing moving closer together with even the grandparents tagging along, a complete coast-to-coast change and relocation. 

The pair have gone through heaps of emotions during the past four years. Both agree that others should not hesitate to reach out when they feel alone and to find someone who is going through it too and traverse the seasons with them. Gandy recommends not being afraid to ask anything because “well, first of all, there are still good people in the world.”