© AP/Mike GrollNurse Susan Berger, left, and Amanda Scarpinati pose with a copy of a 1977 Albany Medical Center annual report during a news conference at Albany Medical Center, Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2015, in Albany, N.Y.
For 38 years, a few black-and-white photographs of a nurse cradling a baby provided comfort to a woman who suffered terrible burns and endured years of playground taunts and painful surgeries thereafter. For all that time, until Tuesday, she dreamed of meeting her again.
The photos show Amanda Scarpinati at just 3 months old, her head thickly wrapped in gauze, resting calmly in the nurse's arms. Shot for the Albany Medical Center's 1977 annual report, the images have a beatific, "Madonna and Child" quality.
As a baby, she had rolled off a couch onto a boiling steam vaporizer. Melted mentholated ointment scalded her skin. The burns would require many reconstructive surgeries over the years. The photos helped.
"Growing up as a child, disfigured by the burns, I was bullied and picked on, tormented," she said. "I'd look at those pictures and talk to her, even though I didn't know who she was. I took comfort looking at this woman who seemed so sincere, caring for me."Scarpinati now lives Athens, 25 miles south of Albany, and works as a human resources manager. All her life, she wanted to thank the nurse who showed her such loving care, but she didn't even know her name. She tried to find out 20 years ago, without success. The pictures were taken by photographer Carl Howard, but his subjects weren't identified. At a friend's urging, she tried again this month, posting the photos on Facebook and pleading for help.
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