It's hard to believe that this is our fourth year participating in the walk for premature babies as members of Team Angel Emma. We were so saddened by the loss of our cousin Emma in December 2006, and walk in the hope that no parents should ever have to lose a child to premature birth ever again. The rate of premature births is falling, but not fast enough - in the US, 8-10% of babies born are born too soon, compared to 25% 10 years ago. We're making progress, but there's still more work to be done.
We walk for our own girls, Ainsley and Caitlin, both born healthy and happy at 39 weeks. Thanks to the research done by the March of Dimes, Amy was able to deliver Caitlin close to full-term, despite being treated for pregnancy-induced hypertension.
We also walk for our godson Theo, born in December 2008 with a ventricular septal defect (VSD) - a hole in his heart that had to be surgically repaired this year at Children's Hospital in Boston. This congenital birth defect is one of the most common affecting the heart, occurring in 8 of 1,000 live births each year. Thankfully, Theo's surgery went well and he is recovering nicely, thanks in part to research by the March of Dimes. Someday, we might be able to better detect and fix VSD's or even prevent them altogether!
And we walk for our friend Naomi, born August 2009 with an esophageal atresia and tracheoesophageal fistula (TEF) that required surgery at just 2 days old to connect her esophagus to her stomach and separate the trachea. Esophageal atresia occurs in about 1 out of 4,000 births, and thankfully, Naomi is making a full recovery, thanks in part to research by the March of Dimes. Naomi's parents had no idea anything was wrong with her until she was born - wouldn't it be great if we could better detect EA and TEF, and fix it earlier, or prevent it altogether?
We walk for all of these children, and so many more. We've been blessed with two healthy girls, but our family and close friends haven't been so lucky. The bottom line is this: the funds we raise in the March for Babies support research that saves babies' lives every year.
If you sponsored our mini-team last year, thank you so much. Ainsley and Caitlin had a great time walking and earning your pledged support, learning a valuable lesson about giving back to her community. We appreciate your continued support, in whatever dollar amount you wish. Please remember that every little bit helps - last year we had a bunch of people give us small amounts, but they added up to over $400 raised by us and over $9k raised by our team!
(And remember, the March of Dimes gratefully accepts gifts matched by your employer!)
Thanks so much,
Greg, Amy, Ainsley, and Caitlin
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We walk for our own girls, Ainsley and Caitlin, both born healthy and happy at 39 weeks. Thanks to the research done by the March of Dimes, Amy was able to deliver Caitlin close to full-term, despite being treated for pregnancy-induced hypertension.
We also walk for our godson Theo, born in December 2008 with a ventricular septal defect (VSD) - a hole in his heart that had to be surgically repaired this year at Children's Hospital in Boston. This congenital birth defect is one of the most common affecting the heart, occurring in 8 of 1,000 live births each year. Thankfully, Theo's surgery went well and he is recovering nicely, thanks in part to research by the March of Dimes. Someday, we might be able to better detect and fix VSD's or even prevent them altogether!
And we walk for our friend Naomi, born August 2009 with an esophageal atresia and tracheoesophageal fistula (TEF) that required surgery at just 2 days old to connect her esophagus to her stomach and separate the trachea. Esophageal atresia occurs in about 1 out of 4,000 births, and thankfully, Naomi is making a full recovery, thanks in part to research by the March of Dimes. Naomi's parents had no idea anything was wrong with her until she was born - wouldn't it be great if we could better detect EA and TEF, and fix it earlier, or prevent it altogether?
We walk for all of these children, and so many more. We've been blessed with two healthy girls, but our family and close friends haven't been so lucky. The bottom line is this: the funds we raise in the March for Babies support research that saves babies' lives every year.
If you sponsored our mini-team last year, thank you so much. Ainsley and Caitlin had a great time walking and earning your pledged support, learning a valuable lesson about giving back to her community. We appreciate your continued support, in whatever dollar amount you wish. Please remember that every little bit helps - last year we had a bunch of people give us small amounts, but they added up to over $400 raised by us and over $9k raised by our team!
(And remember, the March of Dimes gratefully accepts gifts matched by your employer!)
Thanks so much,
Greg, Amy, Ainsley, and Caitlin
