The first thing Tiffany Jones saw of her daughter was a single, tiny hand, so small it hardly seemed possible.  

Seconds later, that hand disappeared as the neonatal intensive care unit team at FMOL Health | St. Francis rushed in. It would be 39 days before Tiffany and her husband, Detrich, could hold their baby girl. 

Today, that baby is 8 years old. She plays piano, earns her spot on the principal’s list and rarely stops smiling. 

A Start No One Saw Coming 

Deanna arrived at just 25 weeks, weighing 1 pound, 11 ounces.  

Tiffany had an infected placenta she didn’t know about. She was moved to a room for what everyone hoped would be a careful, extended bed rest. Instead, labor progressed quickly. The team jumped into action and brought her into the world. Her lungs were the size of a postage stamp. 

The Fight of Her Life 

Around six weeks into her stay at the St. Francis NICU, Deanna turned critical. She suffered a grade 4 brain bleed and had seizures. For nearly 40 days, a ventilator did the breathing her body couldn’t yet manage on its own. 

For a family with no medical background, the weight of all that information could have been crushing. That’s where the St. Francis NICU team made all the difference. 

Marc de Soler, MD, neonatologist and medical director of the NICU, keeps binders full of photos to walk families through every step. He explained the jargon to Tiffany and Detrich in plain language: what a setback meant, what a milestone looked like and exactly what Deanna needed to reach the next level. 

“It can be very overwhelming when your child is in the NICU,” Tiffany says. “Dr. de Soler made sure we understood.” 

Care That Went Above and Beyond 

The St. Francis nurses became like family to the Joneses during those long weeks. 

Tiffany couldn’t be there around the clock. The nurses knew that and made sure she never felt out of the loop. If something changed, they called. If nothing changed, they called anyway. When Deanna took her first bottle and Tiffany was at work, the nurses recorded it and sent her the video so she wouldn’t miss a moment. 

When a baby in Deanna’s room had no visitors, the nurses showed up for that child, too, bringing the same care they gave every family. 

“God lives in the NICU,” Tiffany says. “He works through those nurses and doctors.” 

Then came the day Tiffany calls the most precious of her life. A nurse told her she was going to hold her baby. They tucked Deanna against her chest, skin to skin, and everything changed. 

“It doesn’t really hit you until you feel the skin, feel the touch, the familiarity you felt in your womb,” Tiffany says. 

Going Home, With Support 

Before Deanna left the NICU, the St. Francis team made sure the family wasn’t stepping into the unknown alone. Staff lined up her follow-up appointments in cardiology, gastroenterology and every specialty she would need, and made those first calls on the family’s behalf. 

Deanna spent 87 of her 109 total NICU days at St. Francis. For Tiffany and Detrich, the gratitude runs deep. 

“Without God, and without God using St. Francis as the instrument – the people, the nurses, the doctors and the staff – she would not be here,” Tiffany says. 

Meet Deanna Today 

Deanna is now in third grade, and she is thriving. She stays active in Girl Scouts and brings home good grades. She has a 7-year-old brother, D.J., right there by her side, and the whole Jones family is tight-knit and full of life. 

Deanna carries some lasting reminders of her early arrival: mild cerebral palsy, vision loss in one eye from retinopathy, and a small opening in her heart called a PDA that never fully closed.  

But talk to anyone who knows Deanna, and the diagnosis is never the first thing they mention. Her personality is. She is funny, sweet, a little shy, deeply determined and nearly impossible to stay upset with. She smiles even when she is in trouble. 

“She’s just so good that people don’t even recognize that she’s developmentally delayed,” Tiffany says. “She’s a miracle, and everybody just thinks she is wonderful.” 

Paying It Forward, One Blanket at a Time 

Now Deanna and her Girl Scout troop are giving back to the place that gave her a fighting chance. They’re collecting new baby blankets and “blessing bags” filled with comfort items for NICU moms. 

The donations will go to the St. Francis Medical Center NICU and other NICUs, so more families feel the same care the Joneses did. 

A Warhawk Worth Celebrating 

On September 19, Deanna was recognized as an FMOL Health | St. Francis Warhawk of the Game during the ULM Warhawks Football home game against the Southeastern Louisiana Lions. The honor, presented in recognition of NICU Awareness Month, was a chance for the St. Francis community to celebrate one of its own: a little girl who came into this world so small but who never stopped fighting. 

NICU Awareness Month shines a light on the tiniest fighters and the teams who believe in them. Deanna’s story is one of thousands the St. Francis NICU has helped write. 

She started with one little hand reaching into the world. Look at all she’s holding now. 

We hope your family never needs a NICU, but it’s good to know what’s available — just in case. Across our health system, we offer access to the highest quality family-centered care. 

• Acadiana: Our Lady of Lourdes Women’s & Children’s Hospital’s Level III Surgical NICU 
• Greater Baton Rouge and Northshore: Our Lady of the Lake Children’s Hospital’s Newton & Betsy Thomas Family Center for Newborn & Infant Intensive Care 
• Northeast Louisiana: the region’s only Level III NICU at St. Francis Medical Center