In this photo taken in 1977, nurse Susan Berger cuddles infant Amanda Scarpinati, who had been severely burned by a steam vaporizer at home, in the pediatric unit at Albany Medical Center in Albany N.Y. (Photo: Amanda Scarpinati | Facebook)



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.

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(Photo: Amanda Scarpinati | Facebook)

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.

Watch the emotional reunion for nurse and woman badly burned as infant. (Video: CBS News)

“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.”

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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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(Photo: Amanda Scarpinati | Facebook)

“Within 12 hours, it had gone viral with 5,000 shares across the country,” said Scarpinati.

She had her answer within a day: The fresh-faced young nurse with the long wavy hair was Susan Berger, then 21. Angela Leary, a fellow nurse at the medical center back then, recognized her and sent Scarpinati a message, saying Berger “was as sweet and caring as she looks in this picture.”

Preserved by the photos, their encounters in the pediatric recovery room turned out to have a lasting impact on both their lives.

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