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Our twin girls were born three months early, the result of a rare birth defect and
unstoppable preterm labor. Annabelle died at birth because she didn’t have a heart.
Isabelle weighed just two tiny pounds. Her heart was huge, but her lungs were frail.
Specialized treatment in a neonatal intensive care unit gave her a chance to fight for
her life, and she did. Isabelle lived for almost ten months before succumbing to the
complications of her prematurity.
Preterm labor is so often a devastating surprise. There’s nothing anyone can do to really
prepare you for it – or for all that follows. It’s not what any parent-to-be expects. It’s
not the healthy, happy birth that we all dream of, hope and pray for. No child should have
to start life struggling against death.
When you first walk through those NICU doors, your heart is breaking, desperately searching
for some kind of hope. The sights and sounds are overwhelming. The technologies and treatments
are overwhelming. The joy and the sorrow are overwhelming. In the center of this storm is your
tiny little baby. You desperately search for some kind of hope.
The March of Dimes is that hope. No one is working harder than the March of Dimes to understand
the causes of prematurity or to find preventions and treatments. And, the March of Dimes has
supported countless, critical advances in neonatal intensive care to give all babies the best
chance for better health. Without these medical and technical advances, Isabelle probably would
have lived only days instead of months. We will always treasure those months and be grateful to
the March of Dimes.
We are now blessed with three healthy, happy kids – Emmett, Riley, and Allie. These three miracles
remind us how incredibly important the work of the March of Dimes is every day. WalkAmerica is our
way of saying thanks for all the March of Dimes has done to help families like ours. We are proud
to lead Team Sweeney because we know that every dollar raised will be a dollar well spent to save
babies.
Do you have a personal prematurity story?
Register to walk and share it online!
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