March for Babies Kick-Off

Today, i am kicking off my personal March for Babies campaign. My goal this year is to personally raise $2000.00 for the March of Dimes.

I have donated to many charities over the years and what I have found about the March of Dimes is that the mission is always at the center of their fundraising. Every event I go to or meeting I attend, there is always someone their talking abou their experience with the March of Dimes. The March of Dimes is so much more grass-roots than other non-profits I have been exposed to.

I always say that if it were not for the March of Dimes, my boys would not be here. I don't always tell everyone why this is the case.

My boys needed Surfactant to breathe when they were born as they were born with respiratory distress due to their prematurity and small size. Without it they would have died!

This is why I am forever grateful to the March of Dimes research....

The March of Dimes has a long history of funding research on newborn lung development and has invested over $12.5 million in researchers studying this important issue. One of the most important breakthroughs in this field was the work of T. Allen Merritt, MD, at the University of California San Diego Medical Center. His research showing the effectiveness of surfactant therapy for premature babies with respiratory distress syndrome (RDS) helped convince the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to approve surfactant therapy to prevent and treat RDS. Surfactant is a detergent-like substance produced in the lungs that aids in breathing. Since surfactant therapy became widespread, infant deaths due to RDS have dropped by over two-thirds. The March of Dimes continues to support research to develop new and more effective surfactant therapies.

The FDA didn't approve Surfactant until the 1980's. That is in all of our lifetimes. Had we been born this little and premature, we would have died. That fact always puts this into perspective for me. There is still so much work to be done so half a million babies have a healthy start in life.

Please help me support the March of Dimes by going to www.marchforbabies.com/karenuad

Here you will find my Walk team and how to sign up to walk with us or donate to our team.