Today the March of Dimes is sponsoring their Walk for Babies activity throughout the country. My husband and I were able to participate in the Grand Blanc, Michigan walk. It was sobering to see how many families have been impacted by some form of birth defect as many walkers were wearing T-shirts remembering a baby by name and date of birth. Seeing those families made the walk that much more inspirational for me.
We received a flyer with some statistics on it:
In Michigan:
- About 2,409 babies are born on average each week.
- 301 are born preterm
- 202 are born with low birth rate
- 18 of these babies will die before reaching their first birthday.
Expand this to the rest of the country and it's easy to see that many families are impacted by birth defects. The March of Dimes receives funding through donations and research grants. The bulk of the funds are used for research/prevention of premature birth and birth defects. The remaining key areas are congenital heart defects and autism.
Hopefully this post will reach some more folks unaware of the role the March of Dimes plays in preventing birth defects. You can read more about the walk at www.marchforbabies.org.
