Fayetteville doctor meets former NICU patient-turned-doctor he helped save 33 years ago

Dr. Keith Gallaher has taken care of babies at the neonatal intensive care unit at the Cape Fear Valley Medical Center for 34 years.

Gallaher got to meet one of his patients whose life he helped save 33 years ago.

Ryan Barnes, who has grown up to become a doctor himself, met Gallaher for the first time on Friday.

"It wasn't until she mentioned, 'Hey he actually might still be in practice,'" Barnes said. "And I was like, 'No, it's been three decades. There's almost no way.'

"But sure enough, by happen chance, it seems that we've crossed paths.

"This is fantastic," Gallaher said of meeting Barnes. "I was so excited when I heard that I was going to get to see a grown-up NICU patient."

It's a special reunion for Barnes' mother, Terresse Barnes, too. She was a soldier at Fort Bragg. She had just lost her 22-week-old daughter. Then, her son was born at 33-weeks and was put in the hospital's NICU. Baby Ryan had countless surgeries for a variety of medical issues. He spent 111 days in the intensive care.

"It was just ... amazing that he survived because each surgery, the doctor was like, 'He has a one-in-three chance of not making it out of the surgery," Terresse Barnes said.

Neither Gallaher nor Ryan Barnes really remember each other from 33 years ago. However, both men are cherishing the moments of this reunion and the impact it's had on Barnes' relationship with his patients.

"Thank you," Ryan Barnes said to Gallaher. "Without you, frankly, I wouldn't be here and able to make the impact on, not here per se, but southern New Jersey [where he practices]."