Your July 4th story on 1-year-old Brianna Speed and her excellent care at Eastern Maine Medical Center’s neonatal intensive care unit was heartwarming and great.

Our second daughter Olivia, who is now 6 months old, was in the room next door to Brianna in the intensive care unit for nearly a month this past winter. We know first hand the love and courage of Brianna’s parents and the great work of EMMC in the child’s life. We also know first hand how desperately needed the expansion project EMMC is working on is for the infants who need to be cared for in the intensive care unit.

We cannot thank enough the excellent group of neonatologists, doctors, nurses and other professionals who did such a great job in caring for Olivia and for all of the critical care infants there. They helped us to get a home a little earlier than expected. The NICU unit serves families from all over Maine and the people who make up the unit are unsung heroes in the lives of so many people who just want their children to be able to come home, grow up and lead normal lives.

We would urge individuals and businesses in Maine to invest in this very important expansion by EMMC in the neonatal intensive care unit so as to better serve Brianna as well as the more than 350 Maine families each year who are lovingly cared for there.

Joe and Beth Baldacci

Bangor