​81-Year-Old Man Who Cuddles Poorly Babies Donates $1M

An 81-year-old man has won hearts after not only rocking up to an intensive care unit to help look after sick babies, but also donating a whopping $1 million (£768,900) to the hospital. I know, way to make us feel inferior, dude.

Since last year, Louis Mapp - a father of three, grandfather of eight and great-grandfather of two - has been visiting the USA Children's and Women's Hospital's Hollis J. Wiseman Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, driving 45 minutes from his home in Mobile, Alabama to rock the poorly babies once a week.

USA Health/Facebook

"I'm 81 years old and one of the neatest things I've ever done is being around those precious babies, and the nurses that take care of them," he told People.

"When you walk in there, it's hard to describe it if you've never been in a NICU, to see them in there and see how some are so small."

Mapp added: "Being able to hold them, and see them smile at you, I get a lot of satisfaction out of it."

Now the University of South Alabama has announced that, as well as this incredible weekly act of kindess, Louis Mapp and wife Melinda have also donated over $1 million to the intensive care unit.

"We wanted (the endowment) to be large enough that it would produce enough income so the caregivers, when they recognise a need during the year that might not be in the budget, they would have funds available," Mapp said in a statement.

"A lot of people don't realise what a wonderful facility this is, what they do here, how many lives are affected and how many lives they save," Mapp said.

"It's an honor for us to share our blessings, and we can't think of a better place to do it than here at the NICU unit of Children's & Women's Hospital."

Renee Rogers, NICU nurse manager at Children's & Women's, explains that human touch and bonding is vital when it comes to helping babies in the neonatal intensive care unit to thrive.

Many parents aren't always able to stay with their babies during prolonged periods of hospitalisation, meaning Mapp's weekly gesture means a lot.

"I've found Mr. Mapp to not only be a true gem, but also the time that he has volunteered is so important and means so much to our families and staff," Rogers said.

I mean, I'd say I feel inspired to go out and do the same, but sadly I don't have that spare $1m knocking about...

Still, what a LAD.

Topics: Awesome, News, Inspirational, US News

Jess Hardiman

Jess is a journalist at LADbible who graduated from Manchester University with a degree in Film Studies, English Language and Linguistics - indecisiveness at its finest, right there. She also works for FOODbible and its sister page Seitanists, which are both a safe haven for her to channel a love for homemade pasta, fennel and everything else in between. You can contact Jess at [email protected].

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