CLEVELAND — It was the moment Vince and Linda Cull had been dreaming of: When their son, Tommy, got to leave the NICU at University Hospitals Rainbow Babies and Children's.
"You've worked so hard. Today is your big day," Vince said to Tommy on Tuesday, ahead of his discharge.
For the past 120 days, the family has called Rainbow Babies their second home. It's been a long and difficult journey. But not just for sweet Tommy. The Cull family is the epitome of "in sickness and in health."
"My appendix ruptured five days before our wedding," Vince said. "While they were inside doing the surgery, they ended up seeing a large black mass."
Doctors removed it, and Vince and Linda went through with the wedding. Then, devastating news arrived.
"A couple weeks later they came back and said I had stage three colon cancer. I saw how much it hurt her and it kinda gave me that extra boost to fight through the whole thing," Vince said through tears.
In sickness and in health, Linda stuck by Vince's side, through surgeries, chemo and endless scans. Then a few years later, they'd be tested again.
"So I have hypothyroidism," Linda said. "And I also have what's called PCOS, polycystic ovarian syndrome. So I don't ovulate normally."
That didn't stop the couple from trying to have a baby. After a long road with IVF, the news that they'd been waiting for came: "That was my first time in my life ever seeing a positive pregnancy test," Linda said.
The planning and decorating for the baby's arrival was in full force. All was well, until Linda's 20-week scan.
"On that same day they told me I was dilating already," Linda said. "If he was born, then he would not have survived. Then I was put on bed rest ... five weeks later, even with all the bedrest, my body just couldn't handle it anymore."
The couple knew it was a high risk situation.
"It was my understanding that at around 24 weeks, there's about a 30% survival," Vince said. "He was born at 25 weeks and two days."
It gave him a better chance to live, but Vince and Linda were on edge.
"It was no longer about, painting or trying to set up toys or cribs," Vince said. "We're just hoping that our presence there at the hospital would give him the best chance of surviving."
It was an arduous four months. Tommy endured serious setbacks with his intestines, heart and brain. The family was ready for a sign of hope. One day, it came while they were in Tommy's hospital room.
Vince took a call.
"Hey Vince this is Dr. Chang," Vince's doctor said. "No evidence of cancer whatsoever. Lungs are clear, liver is clear, bones are clear."
He was cancer free.
"You're essentially cured," Dr. Chang said.
"Wow," Vince said, through tears.
It was just what they needed. They were a fighting family through and through.
"If you worry about the negative things and what could happen, it'll drive you crazy," Vince said. "But if you have the right attitude, you can get through it."
On the day of Tommy's discharge, Vince and Linda felt bittersweet. The health care heroes here have become family.
Dozens of them lined the halls to clap Tommy out of the NICU. Dressed in a cap and gown, Tommy took a "graduation" pic. Then, Vince and Linda presented a cake to all the amazing doctors and nurses who got them through their darkest hours.
As Vince packed up the car, Linda was swept away by her baby boy.
"I love you," she whispered to him.
It was a new family chapter, and a love forged in sickness and in health.
"We're going home, Tommy!" Vince said. "Mom and dad are so proud of you."
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