URBANA, Ill. — The corridors of Carle Foundation Hospital in Urbana were filled with laughter and costumes as former neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) patients returned for the hospital’s annual Trunk-or-Treat celebration. This cherished event allows these young trick-or-treaters to reconnect with the nurses who once tended to them during their earliest and most vulnerable days.

Dressed in a variety of imaginative costumes, these children once fought for survival in the NICU. The gathering provides an opportunity for the nurses to witness firsthand the remarkable progress their former patients have made since being discharged.