ur families have given us their stories in a snapshot form. If you would like to talk with one of them, please e-mail ddei@marchofdimes.com and we will help you make contact.

The Davidson Family:
"NICU nurses are a special group of people-men and women that are truly unlike any other kind of nurses around."

Abram was our Chapter Ambassador in 2001-2002. Abram was born at 27 weeks age (remember, a normal pregnancy is 38-40 weeks) weighing 2.7 pounds and was just 13 inches long. That seems pretty good for a baby in this day and age, but Abram had a terrible time breathing and along with other complications keep him in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) at Georgetown University Hospital and the Hospital for Sick Children for over 5 months. Abram is truly a medical miracle. He was not expected to survive, but did so on Surfactant and Nitric Oxide treatments. Although, he is nearly 4 years old, he still has many problems that he and his family are dealing with.

Abram and his family started the original preemie posse as a WalkAmerica team raising $4,000 for healthier babies in 2001. In 2002, the team raised $10,000 and is one of the top ten teams in the Chapter.

The Wood Family:
"Hayley's short life is making a difference in the lives of other babies by spreading the word about expanded newborn screening."

The Wood family lost their first daughter, Hayley, at 3 days of age. It was her first night home from the hospital and she died of a metabolic birth defect. This birth defect was not tested for in Virginia. So the Wood family joined with the March of Dimes public affairs activities and through their combined efforts was able to get two more newborn screening tests added in VA for metabolic birth defects. This could not have been accomplished without the help of Virginia Senator Patsy Ticer and the VA General Assembly. Since Hayley's death three years ago, the Wood family now has another daughter, Grace. They have also testified before Congress to Senator Dodd on this issue of universal newborn screening. They continue to work for healthier babies. Jill Wood was named one of the chapter's Heroines in Technology in November 2002.

The Grzejka Family:
Christian is our Chapter Ambassador for 2003 and appears on our WalkAmerica envelope. Christian was born prematurely after his mother had many problems with the placenta (after birth). At 30 weeks, the placenta finally separated too early from the wall of the uterus. Because of this a life threatening situation, Christian's mother was rushed to the hospital at Prince William Hospital and Christian was quickly delivered by cesarean birth. He weighed 4.6 pounds and was 17 inches long. He was taken to the NICU at Prince William Hospital and was given medication to help his lungs receive air (Surfactant). He was in the hospital for nearly 6 weeks working to get better. He had a series of problems after he was born, but today is a healthy 3-year-old. Christian has his own WalkAmerica team, "Christian's Cohorts." His parents are March of Dimes volunteers. His father, John, is the 2003 WalkAmerica Chair for Prince William County's Walk.

The Sternberg Family:
"When Shelby talks to volunteers, she refers to the March of Dimes as "marching diamonds." And that is what the organization is to us."

Shelby serves as one of our Chapter Ambassadors along with her family. Shelby was not born prematurely but was born with several birth defects that affected her heart. She was expected to have open-heart surgery at age 3, but suddenly about 18 months ago at age 2 she began to have problems. Fortunately her mother, who is an NICU nurse, recognized what was happening and got her to where she could get help. Within 10 days, she was in surgery and starting the long road to recovery. Today, Shelby and her family are one of our biggest folic acid ambassador families. Shelby is a folic acid bee at many of our events getting out the message that folic acid is a B vitamin and needs to be taken BEE-fore pregnancy begins to help prevent birth defects of the brain and spine as well as some other birth defects too.

Shelby's dad's company, EWA-IIT, along with her family has raised thousands of dollars for healthier babies through WalkAmerica. The walk team is named for Shelby.
Shelby's mom has a special support group for families of babies with cardiac (heart) birth defects. It is called TenderHearts.

The Kite Family
"It is important to take folic acid BEE-for pregnancy. Our ambassador bees give that message in such a visible way."

No one does the folic acid bee-fore message as well as Allison and Brandon Kite. These folic acid bees have been doing folic acid outreach with their mom, Michelle, who is the chair of the folic acid council for the chapter, for over 3 years now. Brandon was only 8 months when he did his first outreach on Capitol Hill. Allison has been known to do the folic acid message at her Show and Tell in her preschool all on her own. She is proud to be a volunteer and she is only 4.

The Builta Family:
Trevor and Lindsay are folic acid ambassador bees, but have another story to tell about their sister, Alex. Alex died of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) before they were even born. Their mother has been active with both the SIDS Alliance (past president) and with the chapter as a program services committee member. Liz is very committed to our prematurity campaign. Babies who are born prematurely are at a higher risk for SIDS. Liz does training and is involved with a great many professional educational activities for the chapter. As a nurse practitioner, she and her children are always there to help us get out the mission messages.

The Myers Family:
"If not for the March of Dimes, we would not have known the benefits of folic acid."

Having a healthy baby is not only a reason to celebrate, it is a reason to give back. Zachary was born right near his due date after a pregnancy that was complicated by just one day of labor pains at 28 weeks. His mom and dad were volunteers for the March of Dimes before Zachary was even conceived. They prepared for pregnancy and were part of a March of Dimes study that brought about our Are You Ready to Have a Baby booklet. Folic acid was a big part of the preparation for pregnancy for the Myers family. So naturally, Zachary became a folic acid bee as well. His first outing was at 5 weeks of age at the March of Dimes Peanut Butter (peanuts have folic acid) and Jelly Day on Capitol Hill in March 2001. Zachary has been a folic acid bee for over 12 MOD events in his 2 years. His parents take every opportunity to focus on the March of Dimes mission. This year they encouraged their daycare to do a WonderWalk. Zachary's parents only had one day of preterm labor and know what could have happened. They are working hard so that all babies can be born healthy and on time.