March of Dimes Walk America: Why I Walk

On May 12, I will be forgoing my Saturday tradition of driving down to Casey's General Store to get my family's usual breakfast sandwiches. Instead, I will head down the street to the local park and, for the third straight year, walking for a cause that has become a very important part of my life.

I had never heard of March of Dimes until a couple of years ago. Ok, let me rephrase that, I had heard of them but didn't know much about what they did. It wasn't until after my daughter was born in July of 2004 that I learned I owed her life to much of what they have done.

March of Dimes is known mostly for their cause to raise awareness in premature births and major birth defects. My daughter suffered neither of those. But, for several heart stopping hours, she relied heavily on some of the research and medical practices they helped fund.

Our daughter, Azalea, went full-term and, in fact, was a couple of days late. The Friday before our doctor was going to induce labor, my wife started having contractions. Everything was perfectly normal until he broke my wife's water and Azalea's heart rate suddenly plummeted.

Within 15 minutes, my wife had an emergency cesarean and I had a baby daughter. However, our stress didn't end there. It turns out her cord had become wrapped around her neck (something doctors didn't catch despite an ultrasound the night before). Because of the distress, our daughter had a bowel movement and ended up breathing in the fecal matter.

My wife was fortunate enough to be unconscious throughout, otherwise her memories would be haunted by the image of Azalea not moving and seemingly not breathing. I knew I had a girl before I knew she was alive. When they put her on oxygen, she was so weak she couldn't move; all she could do was use every last bit of strength to breath. For a while, we thought we would have to call in a helicopter to take her to a better hospital and our doctor was so concerned, we knew there was a good chance of that happening before my wife woke up from the surgery.

I'm happy to say she pulled through, though it did mean an overnight stay in an incubator, more than a day on oxygen and two days with antibiotics being pumped into her. Today, she's a perfectly healthy (though somewhat clumsy) 2-year-old.

She was born in July, that following May, we walked, raising $300 and gladly donating another $100 of our own money. That first year, we met quite a few new parents, many of them with similar stories and some that didn't have the same happy ending we did.

It was then I realized just how lucky we were to have a group like March of Dimes and have not missed a walk since, rain or shine. It's three hours of my life that makes a difference in so many other lives. And, I have a little bundle of energy serving as living proof each and every day.