Reunited after 57 years: he was an intern, she was a preemie not expected to survive

On a snowy night in January 1968, Dr. Donald Craig, an intern at St. John’s General Hospital, was asked by the doctor to deliver a baby in his absence. The baby was born three months premature, breech, and expected to be stillborn.

Craig, who had only delivered babies under the supervision of a doctor or resident, quickly picked up a book on childbirth and began reading. A nurse told him that the baby was in a breech position, and he went back to his book. A few hours later, the nurse came back and shouted, “Craig! It’s time, she’s going to give birth!”

Craig had to break the baby’s collarbone to deliver it, but unexpectedly, the baby cried. Hearing the cries, his mother asked, “Is this my baby?”

Craig knew that the baby’s only chance of survival lay with the help of a new specialist at the hospital, who had fortunately stayed at the hospital that night because of the storm. He reached out in his pajamas and towel and said, “Give me the baby.” He kissed the mother and carried her away.

The 2-pound baby stayed in the hospital for a month, and Craig checked in with his mother every day because at the time, mothers were not allowed to stay with premature babies.

Reunion after half a century

57 years later, at the New Brunswick Medical Education Foundation’s “Founders of Care” award ceremony, the person who presented the award to Dr. Craig was the same baby: “Christa Barchik.” A meeting that Craig had kept secret until her name was announced.

“I didn’t hear half of what she said, I was so shocked,” Craig says, then he grabs the transcript and taps it to his office wall.

Christa and her daughter walk over to Craig’s desk and hug him. “We didn’t just save her life, we saved her children and grandchildren,” Craig says.

Christa also said, “If it weren’t for Dr. Craig that night, none of the things that happened in my life — falling in love, getting married, having children, having grandchildren — would have happened.”

A story that lingers in the heart

The story was brought to life by Alyssa Long, the foundation’s executive director. She was pregnant herself when she interviewed Craig, and was moved by the story of the baby born 57 years ago and decided to find him.

After an eight-week search, Christa was found in Memraam Cook. She now works at a technology company in Moncton, has three children and three grandchildren, and will remarry in the fall.

“You can tell your birth story a hundred times, but when you’re standing next to someone who literally saved your life… it really makes a difference,” says Christa.

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