MARCHING FOR BABIES

We're in training -- more or less.

​In trying to practice what I preach, I've walked or jogged most of my adult life.  Last year I finally got my wife to start walking.  So we walk on a regular basis.  We walk our neighborhood area, Hiller Park, and the Donal Snyder Center.  We can now walk up to an hour.  Done it a few times.  But we've kicked it up a notch lately since we signed up for a walking event on April 29th, to walk across the Biloxi-Ocean Springs Bridge.

​A couple of weekends ago we tried the bridge for the first time, walking about half way and back to see if our aged legs could make it.  But this past Saturday morning we walked all the way across, in preparation for a round trip.  It was a pretty day though the wind was up a little bit.  Co-walkers were scattered along the way, greeting, as they passed, with a "good morning" or a wave of hello.  There were bike riders and also two sets of parents with Dads jogging or pushing a stroller with a bundled two-year-old tucked inside.

​But back to the event....

​Almost three years ago our grandson Maverick, child of my oldest son and daughter-in-law, decided to enter this harsh, cold, world at twenty-six weeks.  As a result he needed quite a bit of help in order to make it, help he received at the University of South Alabama Children's and Women's Hospital in Mobile, where he spent ninety-one days in the neonatal ICU.

​It's not uncommon that babies born this prematurely, and some less premature, die because the technology is insufficient to solve some medical problems many have, usually heart, lung, and brain.

​But though he was all wrinkly and about the size of an overgrown rat, literally a shoe box baby, he defied the odds and continued to progress daily, his progress interspersed with a few bumps along the way.  By God's grace and prayers he developed normally.

​I understand he now rules the day care, becoming irate with his buddies who refuse to respond to his every order.  And his terrible twos have actually been tolerable.  But he did tell me the other day that I needed a shave.  And a few weeks ago he stayed over and decided he wouldn't go to bed until midnight and only fell off to sleep (Benadryl-like) pooped out from watching the man-cub Mowgli and the Jungle Book.

​So we' are grateful for what they did at USA Children's Hospital and also for what the March of Dimes do.

​Anyway, every year the March of Dimes holds a fundraiser called March for Babies to fund research and improve the technology that will help babies in the future survive their premature challenges.  Challenges like Maverick had.  I believe if it had not been for the money raised for research done in years past that Maverick's chances of survival would not have been as good as they might've been in an earlier time.

​So on Saturday morning April 29th the March for Babies fundraiser walk across the Biloxi-Ocean Springs Bridge will be held at Point Cadet in Biloxi.  I hope you can make it.  If you are able, a donation will be helpful of course.  Any amount will do.  Even $5.

​My daughter-in-law Rebecca is the captain of Team Miracle Maverick.  You can donate at her March for Babies team website which is HERE.  However, if you feel compassionate and would like to help a grandpa-doctor from being embarrassed by not meeting his assigned goal of $250 you can donate at my team member site which is HERE.  You may pay with a credit card, check, or PayPal.

​My office will waive any office visit co-pay for anyone listed on my website as having made a donation of any amount.

​And if you're unable to donate a few bucks at this time to help some babies, or can't attend, please say a prayer that the fundraiser will be successful.  Otherwise, consider becoming more active and start walking.  You'll feel better, look better, and maybe get smarter.  Maybe even smart enough to join us next year in our walk across the bridge, marching for babies.