ALBANY, N.Y. -- An Athens woman's extensive search for the nurse who cared for her nearly 40 years ago culminated Tuesday with a reunion at Albany Medical Center.
Amanda Scarpinati's 37th birthday was this past Sunday, and she says she couldn't have asked for a better gift than meeting the Susan Berger, who cared for her when she got 3rd degree burns as a baby.
She remembered thinking, "What A wonderful birthday gift this would be if I could actually at least get to talk her, and it's even better that I got to meet her and hug her and she's real."
Baby Amanda was very sick and was on the brink of pneumonia. Barely moving for days, she turned over and fell on a hot mist humidifier, sustaining 3rd degree burns.
"I picked her up and she just melted in my arms," recalled Berger. "If she could speak she would have said 'Ok, I'm gonna be ok now.'"
A photo of Berger and three-month-old Amanda was used on the front cover of a 1977 hospital report. Both have held onto the photo, which Amanda posted over the weekend to Facebook, setting the reunion in motion.
"I just said if you could please share it, you never know who could see it," said Scarpinati.
The Facebook post went viral within 12 hours, and a former nurse at Albany Med recognized Susan Berger and reached out to her. Berger made the trip from Cazenovia, Madison County, where she now works.
"It's such a great reminder at the end of my career to think back on all of the interactions that I've had with patients, all of the things that I've done," said Berger. "It made me put aside the hard work and the times it was stressful and think about this. This is the best part."