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COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Dale Earnhardt Jr. walks into one of the conference rooms Thursday at the Nationwide Children’s Hospital. Immediately, he spots an old friend: Maddie Delaney, who is wearing a No. 88 blue T-shirt.
Earnhardt walks over to her, kneels down to her wheelchair and wraps her in a big hug. Like many 10-year-olds, Maddie loves horseback riding, Tae Kwon Do, singing and swimming. Earnhardt met her during one of his first hospital visits and has created a special bond with her through conversation and video games. Maddie’s cerebral palsy condition makes her wheelchair-bound, but it doesn’t make for any lack in personality. “I’m freaking the heck out, dude,” she says to Earnhardt as he presents her with a pair of hot pink racing gloves as one of the five Nationwide Children’s Hospital’s Patient Champions for this weekend’s race at Kentucky Speedway. [caption id="attachment_16819" align="alignleft" width="300"]• • •
One of the first stops for Earnhardt & Co. is the neonatal intensive care unit. There, Earnhardt meets baby Veronica, who was born three months early, weighing about two pounds. Her due date was the day prior to the visit. Today, Veronica weighs six pounds, 11 ounces and is doing well in the hospital’s neonatal program, which uses the most advanced technology available to care for approximately 3,000 babies annually in its seven Central Ohio locations. “She’s our miracle baby,” Veronica's mother says to Earnhardt, as her father holds her to his chest. “It took a whole army, I think it was 12 people,” Veronica’s father said. He looks down and softly kisses Veronica’s little head. The survival rate at 23 weeks old was 10 percent a few years ago; today at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, the survival rate has jumped to 78 percent. That’s a testament to the research and technology that the hospital has worked to achieve, says Dr. Edward Shepherd, who is the pediatric expert at the hospital. “This is a hospital where any baby can be taken care of, no matter how sick,” Dr. Shepherd says. Several holistic methods to soothe babies have been used with success here. There’s the kangaroo care method, where a parent strips the baby down and holds them close to his or her bare chest; the skin-to-skin contact helps to steady the baby’s heart rate and improve breathing. There’s also the musical pacifier, where parents can record themselves singing and play that recording into the pacifier, which helps premature babies remember how to suck, a basic function. Earnhardt’s crew chief Ives is particularly impressed; he asks multiple questions about the hospital’s evolving technology throughout the tour. But Ives also has a personal connection with that neonatal ICU. “It’s refreshing but also exciting to see the ability of technology to be used in a manner to help kids, to help children, but also to help families,” Ives tells NASCAR.com later that day. “When you walk in here, you see hope. ... “(My wife and I) lost our second eight weeks after conception, so it’s really surreal to see how things work out and it kind of hits home a little bit, as well. Only being eight weeks, it’s different than being born premature for sure, but you see what the families go through and the emotional state that they can get in. Not only from having to deal with the situation at hand but from a financial burden and having to relocate. There’s some that were from Texas and New York and all over the place that come here to find that hope. “So that’s what’s neat about it. Just knowing that some of them look up to us and what we do. It’s like, 'Man, you guys are saving lives and healing families and we’re just racing cars.' ” But for these children, racing cars is pretty cool -- especially for someone like Dale Jr. superfan Carter, whom Earnhardt meets next.• • •
Carter is smiling as Earnhardt approaches his hospital room. The sport’s most popular driver kneels down beside the 7-year-old’s wheelchair and gives him an allotment of presents, including a No. 88 die cast that Earnhardt signs right there with his signature silver Sharpie. Carter is a patient at the hospital who is battling a brain tumor. “I got you a hat, too. Don’t know if you want to put it on with such a cool Mohawk,” Earnhardt says, referring to Carter’s bright red Mohawk hairstyle. Carter immediately puts on the hat. Earnhardt then kneels down again and has a private conversation with Carter for a couple minutes. Carter is quiet, but his mom assures the group he will talk excitedly about his favorite driver as soon as he leaves. “When I see those kids … you get reminded of how much you take for granted really in life,” Earnhardt says later. “Most of the time, when you talk with kids, they’re very shy, kind of closed off, you don’t really get to interact with them as much as you’d like. Like Carter upstairs, his mom’s like, ‘He’s going to talk like crazy when you leave.’ “But after a couple of visits, if I see Carter again, he will talk like crazy, because he’s like, 'Oh I remember this guy, this is a safe, trusted interaction.' You sometimes come here and see the same kids and you do build these relationships.” [caption id="attachment_16818" align="alignleft" width="278"]• • •
Earnhardt’s impact is felt particularly on the final stop of the tour, as a lively group of children and their families greet the group in the Dale and Amy Earnhardt Activity Room. Named for the couple last season, the activity room is a place where the children can play, celebrate and ring the bell, modeled after Hendrick Motorsports’ Victory Bell, when they graduate from the rehab unit. Earnhardt makes a point to chat with each of the children, take photos and sign anything they ask. One child makes an "8" with two hands and Earnhardt puts up another for an “88” in a photo. Another puts bunny ears on Earnhardt when they snap a picture. [caption id="attachment_16822" align="alignright" width="300"]• • •
The group of five patient champions – some of whom also will be at Saturday’s Quaker State 400 -- gather for a photo toward the end of the visit with the entire No. 88 team. MORE: Preview Junior's Kentucky chances Five-year-old Aliee Gilliland stands in front of Earnhardt in pink cowboy boots, a blue No. 88 T-shirt extending past her knees. Junior’s buddy Maddie rocks her hot pink gloves with a grin in the center. Tristen Cooper, John Roger Curry and Melanie Wheeler smile for the camera. [caption id="attachment_16816" align="alignleft" width="300"]