This story is the second of a three part series we will dedicate to inspiring people, the work they do and results that matter.
While in Lamaze class preparing for the birth of our first child, I recall an exercise the instructor asked us to do. We were asked to write various outcomes on index cards, words such as “natural birth”, “epidural”, “boy”, “girl”, and “healthy”. During the exercise, we were asked to remove cards one by one, until ultimately we were left choosing between “healthy” and whatever our second most important outcome was. Everyone chooses healthy – which was, of course, the point of the whole exercise.
For the past four years, Moxie has supported the March of Dimes by producing a video program used at fundraising events across Colorado. Every year we meet amazing families and document their unimaginable, terrifying, and emotional experiences with premature birth.
Sitting across from a mother or father that has watched a tiny, infant child fight for their lives, having them recount the long, unexpected, and horrifying journey, is heart wrenching. There are universal themes they all share, the helplessness, the miniscule size of their child, the wires and tubes and machines…but what is amazing is that each of these families is as unique as the child they bring into this world. Each of them leaves us with something special.
This year, for example, we had the opportunity to meet a little boy who beat the odds, and is a thriving, feisty, energetic grade-schooler. To begin a morning hearing frightful stories and viewing unimaginable photographs; but end the day watching the same little boy skateboarding and kayaking is quite a ride, to say the least. This was the same experience we provided to our viewers, as well.
It is both rewarding and humbling to be able to produce a video that documents such a wonderful success story, and highlights the positive contributions the March of Dimes has had on babies and families including funding the development of surfactant, a substance that helps premature babies breathe; advocating for a regionalized system of neonatal intensive care units (NICUs), to enable sick babies in all part of the U.S. to get the specialized care they need; and offering continuing education for NICU health professionals, to keep them informed of breakthroughs in their field and new ways to help critically ill babies.
Additionally, this video, as part of the Colorado funding events, helped raise more than $150,000 for the March of Dimes. The family and their willingness to share their story, the video we produced to bring their story to life for an audience, the March of Dimes and the people that contributed to its mission, together – we’ve all made a real difference.
After all, at the end of the day, the one card I still believe we would all choose for every child to be dealt is “healthy.”
Watch the March of Dimes Video.