The annual Shawnee March of Dimes March for Babies kicked off for the year Thursday and a goal was set but teams may still apply for the Oct. 10 walk at Shawnee Mall.
Kim Rawls, committee member, said the goal this year is $45,000 for Shawnee. She said the money is typically raised through a cooperative effort of national sponsor K-Mart, corporate and family teams and coin collections from several Shawnee schools.
The local campaign has been held for more than 20 years, Rawls said.
This year, Oklahoma Sen. Charles Laster was selected as the 2010 honorary March for Babies chair and spoke during the Sept. 2 kick-off.
This year’s local ambassador family — Tyler, Leah and Abigail Perry — also attended the kick-off. Leah Perry spoke about her daughter’s birth and the weeks following and how the March of Dimes played an important role in Abigail’s road to recovery.
Abigail Elizabeth Perry, who was not due until April, was born Feb. 19 and weighed 4 pounds and 14 ounces.
Leah Perry said the day before Abigail was born, she wasn’t feeling well and made an appointment to see her doctor. After some monitoring in labor and delivery, she was sent by ambulance to OU Medical Center where she was told she would stay due to preeclampsia and that her daughter would be born within a week.
Instead, increasingly high blood pressure made it necessary for an emergency Caesarian section.
“I only got a quick glimpse of her before she was whisked away to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit,” she said, adding she didn’t see her again until she was two days old.
Leah Perry began to recuperate almost immediately and within two days, she was released from the hospital. But Abigail was having problems breathing, had fluid on her kidneys and a hole in her heart.
“I never expected to see my baby for the first time with all kinds of different tubes coming from her tiny body and hooked up to a ventilator with a feeding tube down her throat,” she said. “I couldn’t help but cry and wish that I could hold her and let her know that I cared for her and I loved her more than anything in the world. She never opened her eyes that day.”
The next evening, as the Perrys and Leah Perry’s mother were sleeping, a doctor from OU Children’s Hospital’s NICU called to tell them Abigail’s lung collapsed and a surgery would be performed to place a chest tube in her tiny body.
“I fell apart,” Leah Perry said. “I couldn’t handle the thought of surgery on my tiny baby. I went up at three in the morning to the NICU to visit Abbie after her surgery. Again, she didn’t open her eyes while we were there. Within two days, the chest tube was being removed and I knew in that instant she was a true fighter.”
Abigail’s mother held her for the first time when she was four days old. She was off the ventilator that was helping her breathe but still had a feeding tube down her throat.
“Again, I couldn’t do anything except cry,” she said. “But this time, tears of joy. It felt so good to finally hold my baby.”
When Abigail was one week old, her mother was able to feed her.
“It wasn’t much but I got to feed her about an ounce,” she said. “She wouldn’t take from a bottle so after trying for several minutes, the feeding tube was put back down her throat. After all we had been through, the only thing keeping my baby there was that she couldn’t eat from a bottle and continued to have a feeding tube.”
But the Perrys continued to hold onto hope and to pray.
“On March 6, in the middle of the night, I got up to try to feed Abbie and she suddenly had mastered drinking from her bottle,” Leah Perry said. “So the nurses in the NICU said if she could continue to do so well and drink every feeding from a bottle for 24 hours, then we could finally take our baby home from the hospital.”
Two days later, Abigail was able to be released from the hospital and go home with her mother and father.
“I had never been more excited in my life as I was on the day we got to take our baby home from the hospital,” she said. “Today, we have a healthy 5-month-old baby girl who is so full of life. Looking at her today, you would never know she had such a rough beginning to life. I look at her everyday and smile and thank God that He chose me to be her mommy and that He blessed me with the amazing gift of Abigail Elizabeth Perry. She is truly a miracle and the light of our lives.”
The Perrys said they are thankful to many people, including Dr. Allison Huebert of Renaissance Physicians in Midwest City, the nurses at the OU Children’s Hospital NICU, family, friends, church members and the March of Dimes and its contributors.
“We owe a great deal of thanks to the March of Dimes for their continued contributions to local research and hospitals that strive to help premature babies and provide the necessary equipment and training needed to care for these special blessings from God,” she said. “The only things that got me and my husband through the most difficult time in our lives were the support and love from our families, our faith in God and our church family.”
Abigail has received two check-up appointments since her release from the hospital to check the status of fluid on her kidneys and the hole in her heart.
“The fluid on her kidneys has almost disappeared and the hole in her heart has gotten significantly smaller,” Leah Perry said. “And both conditions will continue to be monitored until they have either corrected themselves or have been medically treated and are corrected.”
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The annual Shawnee March of Dimes March for Babies kicked off for the year Thursday and a goal was set but teams may still apply for the Oct. 10 walk at Shawnee Mall.
Kim Rawls, committee member, said the goal this year is $45,000 for Shawnee. She said the money is typically raised through a cooperative effort of national sponsor K-Mart, corporate and family teams and coin collections from several Shawnee schools.
The local campaign has been held for more than 20 years, Rawls said.
This year, Oklahoma Sen. Charles Laster was selected as the 2010 honorary March for Babies chair and spoke during the Sept. 2 kick-off.
This year’s local ambassador family — Tyler, Leah and Abigail Perry — also attended the kick-off. Leah Perry spoke about her daughter’s birth and the weeks following and how the March of Dimes played an important role in Abigail’s road to recovery.
Abigail Elizabeth Perry, who was not due until April, was born Feb. 19 and weighed 4 pounds and 14 ounces.
Leah Perry said the day before Abigail was born, she wasn’t feeling well and made an appointment to see her doctor. After some monitoring in labor and delivery, she was sent by ambulance to OU Medical Center where she was told she would stay due to preeclampsia and that her daughter would be born within a week.
Instead, increasingly high blood pressure made it necessary for an emergency Caesarian section.
“I only got a quick glimpse of her before she was whisked away to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit,” she said, adding she didn’t see her again until she was two days old.
Leah Perry began to recuperate almost immediately and within two days, she was released from the hospital. But Abigail was having problems breathing, had fluid on her kidneys and a hole in her heart.
“I never expected to see my baby for the first time with all kinds of different tubes coming from her tiny body and hooked up to a ventilator with a feeding tube down her throat,” she said. “I couldn’t help but cry and wish that I could hold her and let her know that I cared for her and I loved her more than anything in the world. She never opened her eyes that day.”
The next evening, as the Perrys and Leah Perry’s mother were sleeping, a doctor from OU Children’s Hospital’s NICU called to tell them Abigail’s lung collapsed and a surgery would be performed to place a chest tube in her tiny body.
“I fell apart,” Leah Perry said. “I couldn’t handle the thought of surgery on my tiny baby. I went up at three in the morning to the NICU to visit Abbie after her surgery. Again, she didn’t open her eyes while we were there. Within two days, the chest tube was being removed and I knew in that instant she was a true fighter.”
Abigail’s mother held her for the first time when she was four days old. She was off the ventilator that was helping her breathe but still had a feeding tube down her throat.
“Again, I couldn’t do anything except cry,” she said. “But this time, tears of joy. It felt so good to finally hold my baby.”
When Abigail was one week old, her mother was able to feed her.
“It wasn’t much but I got to feed her about an ounce,” she said. “She wouldn’t take from a bottle so after trying for several minutes, the feeding tube was put back down her throat. After all we had been through, the only thing keeping my baby there was that she couldn’t eat from a bottle and continued to have a feeding tube.”
But the Perrys continued to hold onto hope and to pray.
“On March 6, in the middle of the night, I got up to try to feed Abbie and she suddenly had mastered drinking from her bottle,” Leah Perry said. “So the nurses in the NICU said if she could continue to do so well and drink every feeding from a bottle for 24 hours, then we could finally take our baby home from the hospital.”
Two days later, Abigail was able to be released from the hospital and go home with her mother and father.
“I had never been more excited in my life as I was on the day we got to take our baby home from the hospital,” she said. “Today, we have a healthy 5-month-old baby girl who is so full of life. Looking at her today, you would never know she had such a rough beginning to life. I look at her everyday and smile and thank God that He chose me to be her mommy and that He blessed me with the amazing gift of Abigail Elizabeth Perry. She is truly a miracle and the light of our lives.”
The Perrys said they are thankful to many people, including Dr. Allison Huebert of Renaissance Physicians in Midwest City, the nurses at the OU Children’s Hospital NICU, family, friends, church members and the March of Dimes and its contributors.
“We owe a great deal of thanks to the March of Dimes for their continued contributions to local research and hospitals that strive to help premature babies and provide the necessary equipment and training needed to care for these special blessings from God,” she said. “The only things that got me and my husband through the most difficult time in our lives were the support and love from our families, our faith in God and our church family.”
Abigail has received two check-up appointments since her release from the hospital to check the status of fluid on her kidneys and the hole in her heart.
“The fluid on her kidneys has almost disappeared and the hole in her heart has gotten significantly smaller,” Leah Perry said. “And both conditions will continue to be monitored until they have either corrected themselves or have been medically treated and are corrected.”
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