Indiana Baby Who Spent 460 Days in the NICU Is Finally Going Home!

After spending over a year in an Indianapolis NICU, baby Kendall Jurnakins is going home!

This month, the 15-month-old infant — who weighed only 15 ounces when he was born at 25 weeks — was finally cleared to leave Ascension St. Vincent Women's Hospital in Indiana.

However, before saying goodbye, the medical staff threw him a festive parade, where people cheered and applauded!

"This moment, actually, I have no words," NICU medical director Dr. Taha Ben Saad told WTHR. "It's such a reward for all of us."

When Kendall was born in December 2020 and was diagnosed with respiratory distress syndrome and chronic lung disease, Dr. Saad said his chances of survival were between around 50 to 60%.

"I just was scared my baby wasn't gonna make it," mom Sparkle Jurnakins told “Good Morning America.”

"I was going to visit him every day. He was really sick in the beginning," she continued. "We couldn't figure out why he couldn't get his lungs together. So we had to, they told me that his lungs wasn't really fully developed like they should. They was gonna have to trach it. So we ended up having to have that big surgery, a trach put in for him to be healthy."

Following the tracheotomy, Kendall was placed on a ventilator, and later had to get a gastrostomy tube for feeding.

To make matters worse, Jurkanins contracted COVID-19 eight months later and had to be placed on a ventilator and get a tracheotomy like her son. She also spent two months in the intensive care unit, where she was in a coma.

"COVID almost took me out... From August to October, I was in a coma. And then in the hospital till almost December," Jurnakins said.

Ultimately, Jurnakins overcame her illness and was able to reunite with her baby boy in early December 2021.

"I thought he was not gonna remember me because he was so tiny when I went in the hospital," Jurnakins said. "Soon as I got there, he just laid on me and looked at me the whole time. It was the best feeling in the world."

Overall, Jurnakins is grateful that she and her son have recovered from their ailments.

"I couldn't believe it. I was just like, 'Oh, my baby really made it. Oh, we're coming home. Oh, Lord. Thank you,’” she said. "I prayed. I cried. I was happy. I was sad. I was everything but I was ready for my baby to come home."

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