Fundraising is hard. No matter what the cause or how important it is to you, asking for money from both friends and strangers is difficult to do. It is especially hard when you do it year after year.
This is our sixth year participating as a family team in the March for Babies. This walk raises funds for the March of Dimes. It is an organization that is very close to our heart, and it one that has been tremendously important to our family. However, it’s been increasingly difficult to raise money and find people to walk with us at the event each year.
That’s not to say that I don’t completely understand. Money is tight for a lot of families, as is their time. Days are filled with work, school, and other obligations. Fundraisers come at you from every angle. It’s hard to fit in one more thing, or give your money to one more cause.
However, that doesn’t mean our family is going to stop trying. In fact, we will continue to March for Babies each year, and here is why.
The March of Dimes helped save our babies lives.
Our twin boys were born extremely premature at 25 weeks, 5 days. They weighed 1 lb 7 oz and 2 lbs 2 oz, and doctors could not predict what would happen.
When they were born, they could not breathe on their own. Their lungs hadn’t had a chance to develop in the womb yet. Luckily, they were able to be put on ventilators and given Surfactant to help their lungs stay inflated until they matured on their own. That life-saving therapy was originally funded by the March of Dimes.
The March of Dimes also participates in the community. They have staff and volunteers in hospital NICUs across the country, including Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin, who educate and support families.
The March of Dimes is a leader in research for premature birth. Their mission is to give every baby the healthiest start in life with a full-term birth.
While it’s not something I ever thought about, premature birth happens to 1 in 10 babies. Chances are that you know someone who has been through or will experience this life-changing event.
It really changed my life.
Watching my babies fight for their lives for over ninety days, I didn’t want anyone else to experience that kind of pain. If there was anything I could do to stop another baby or parent from experiencing that heartache, I wanted to do it.
So, that’s exactly what I do. I plead, I beg, and I annoy people until they donate or walk with us in the March for Babies. We share our story with anyone who will listen.
Because we were the lucky ones. We got to take two healthy babies home.
Premature birth, and its complications, are the leading cause of death for infants.
It can happen to anyone, and often, there isn’t anything that the mother or doctors can do to stop it. The only hope is more research, better prenatal healthcare, and more technological advances.
No matter how hard it is for me to fundraise, it is exponentially harder to have a baby fighting for their life in the hospital.
If you’d like to join our team to March for Babies, or make a donation please donate here.
