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March of Dimes Walk


pdlnpeabody

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The annual March of Dimes walk is coming up on March 27th. My little Jaden is the team Ambassador for my company's walking/water station team. All I had to do was sign up and they put up a site to become a sponsor for him. We raised over $100 for the MoD, and we'll be in Ambassador's row on the day of the walk. They'll have posters of the premie babies along part of the route and we'll be there with the other families to cheer on the walkers!

I used to be against the March of Dimes. My mom did the bookkeeping for the Orlando chapter back in the 80's. When she discovered that 90% of the donations went to the regional manager's salary, she quit. I guess they've changed their distribution policies since then. When I was in high school they handed out contraceptives to students during our lunch break. Again I thought, "this is the best they can do to prevent birth defects and premature births?" We just filled them up 1/2 with air and 1/2 with helium and watched them float across the campus. Later when I heard that they gave blankets and teddy bears to the premie babies I thought, "like the parents haven't thought of that already?" Amazing how first hand experience can change somebody's attitude. When your baby is hooked to machines to keep him or her alive, the last thing your thinking about is going to the store to buy them a blanket and teddy bear. I also discovered that they do invest millions of dollars into research to find the causes and methods of preventing premature births. Now I support them all the way.

Its hard to believe he's just over a year old and almost 30 lbs., 10X his birth weight!

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My favorite was when I was waiting to attend Nursing School one of the other unit secretaries' son came to give her a ride home and he was HUGE! Nest time I worked with her she told me he weighed 1.5 pounds at birth...

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  • 2 weeks later...

Did the March of Dimes event this morning. As an Ambassador Family we only had to walk 1 block (after walking over 2 miles to the starting point from where we parked) and then took a bus to "ambassador's row" a few miles from the starting point. On the way we drove past "Memory Row" for the little ones who didn't make it. There were a lot of posters for them. I realized that we really have been fortunate. The really cool part is what was accomplished. Over 6,000 participants walked the 8 mile route and raised over $818,000! The kids behaved and had a great time and my wife was a trooper despite being up since 3 p.m. the day before and finishing a 12 hour shift last night.

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I'd be interested to know the route. When we did the MOD walk in Quincy (I walked with the rest of the Health Dept's school health team) it was only 3 miles, from the courthouse out to the armory and back to two blocks east of the courthouse & back.

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The picture of your son brings back memories. My nephew was 1 pound 1.5 ounce though a year ago my sil insists he as 2 pounds 1/2 ounce. Either way he was tiny. Visitors to NICU were limited to grandparents, siblings, and two others. When I learned I wasn't on the list, I was nearly in tears, because I feared he would die, and I'd never have had the chance to see him in life. My sil thought siblings were considered "others" and when she discovered otherwise I was on the list. :rofl:

I took one of the diapers, because I couldn't believe how small they were, and the nurses had to fold them to make them even smaller. When I got home I tried the diaper on the 13" doll I got for my 4th birthday. The doll was too big!

Now he is getting close to finishing kindergarten and is a voracious reader (a true Smith!). He has no health problems due to prematurity and we feel truly blessed.

Charities aren't all what they ought to be. It's possible to get information on what percentage actually goes to benefit the target population of that organization. I'm glad to hear that the local branch of the MOD has corrected the problem.

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I'd be interested to know the route. When we did the MOD walk in Quincy (I walked with the rest of the Health Dept's school health team) it was only 3 miles, from the courthouse out to the armory and back to two blocks east of the courthouse & back.

The route starts on NW 34th Street at Westwood Middle School, runs north to 31st Ave. 31st east to 13th Street (U.S. 441), south to 16th street and then west back to Westwood MS.

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