Meet the Merrit Miracles: Kacki and Klein

Jake and Callie Merritt started their family in 2016 when they welcomed their first child, a son, Ketch. Then, in 2019, the Merritt’s welcomed twins, Kacki and Klein at 26 weeks gestation. Both babies were around 2lbs at birth and spent three weeks at an area hospital until Klein, developed bacterial meningitis.

At that point, Callie knew her babies needed a higher level of care and looked to Oklahoma Children’s Hospital OU Health. Within hours, both babies were on their way to the NICU at Oklahoma Children’s where Kacki would spend the next 3.5 months of her life and Klein, the next 10 months of his.

“It didn’t take long for the care team at Oklahoma Children’s Hospital to become like family to us. When you are looking to a team of doctors and nurses to sustain your babies daily, it makes sense,” said Callie. “They listened to us as parents and we knew we could count on them.”

The Merritt’s’ felt they owed so much to the care teams that saved their babies and decided to give back in a big way by donating leading-edge equipment to the NICU and the Air Kids One transport team. “Our first gift was made to purchase a piece of equipment that would have been beneficial to Klein had it been there. Then, we saw the impact of that gift and it snowballed into continuing to want to give back and have an impact on other babies and families,” said Callie.

Today, the twins are almost 4; Kacki has taken on a ‘motherly’ role with brother Klein and is much more calm and quiet. Klein is the life of the party, always dancing and smiling. “There’s no adequate way to say thank you. We’re living our dream by raising our family and our home is filled with so much joy.”

If you'd like to make a gift to support the NICU at Oklahoma Children’s Hospital, visit https://giving.ouhealth.com/NICU.

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