Burned as a baby, woman reunites with nurse
Associated Press
ALBANY, N.Y.
For 38 years, a few black-and-white photographs of a nurse cradling a baby provided comfort to a woman who suffered terrible burns and endured years of playground taunts and painful surgeries thereafter. For all that time, until Tuesday, she dreamed of meeting her again.
The photos show Amanda Scarpinati at just 3 months old, her head thickly wrapped in gauze, resting calmly in the nurse’s arms. Shot for the Albany Medical Center’s 1977 annual report, the images have a beatific, “Madonna and Child” quality.
As a baby, she had rolled off a couch onto a boiling steam vaporizer. Melted mentholated ointment scalded her skin. The burns would require many reconstructive surgeries over the years.
The photos helped.
“Growing up as a child, disfigured by the burns, I was bullied and picked on, tormented,” she said. “I’d look at those pictures and talk to her, even though I didn’t know who she was. I took comfort looking at this woman who seemed so sincere, caring for me.”
Scarpinati lives in Athens, 25 miles south of Albany, and works as a human-resources manager. At a friend’s urging, she posted the photos on Facebook and asked for help. “Within 12 hours, it had gone viral with 5,000 shares across the country,” said Scarpinati.
She had her answer within a day: The fresh-faced young nurse with the long wavy hair was Susan Berger, then 21.
Both women were thrilled to see each other again Tuesday, sobbing and embracing as cameras clicked all around them.