March for Babies supporters
to pound the pavement
By Scott Mitchell Johnson
Staff Writer
PRESQUE ISLE — The day before Mother’s Day, walkers in Aroostook County will be doing their part to raise money in support of programs that help moms have full-term pregnancies.
The March of Dimes’ annual March for Babies Walk will be held Saturday, May 11 beginning at the Presque Isle Elks Lodge located at 508 Main St. Registration begins at 10 a.m. and the walk starts at 11 a.m.
The March of Dimes is a non-profit organization that works to improve the health of babies by preventing birth defects, premature birth and infant mortality.
The 2013 March for Babies campaign kicked off last December with a holiday auction at the Aroostook Centre Mall.
“We’ve done an auction in the past in conjunction with our walk, but if people from the general public didn’t come to the walk, they didn’t know about the auction,” said Katie Bartley, co-chair of the Central Aroostook Steering Committee for the March of Dimes. “This year we decided to separate the two fundraisers and create awareness year-round.”
The auction raised $1,640.
The March of Dimes is very near and dear to Bartley’s heart.
“I, myself, have had five premature children,” she said. “Our first son, who passed away after 52 days, was born 13 weeks premature. He never came home. He lived in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) in Bangor. My daughter was born five weeks premature, my twin sons were born six weeks premature, and my last son was born five weeks premature.
“It never gets easier, but you know what to expect,” said Bartley, who developed preeclampsia with HELLP syndrome with each of her pregnancies. “I knew after my first pregnancy that probably all of my kids after that were going to be premature … that I was not able to carry all of my kids to full term. You know what the numbers are supposed to look like in your blood work and what your blood pressure is supposed to be. You’re never prepared for it, but you know what to expect.”
According to the March of Dimes website, a premature baby is one who is born too early, before 37 completed weeks of pregnancy. Premature babies can have more health problems and may need to stay in the hospital longer than babies born later, and more than half a million babies are born prematurely each year in the United States.
Bartley and her husband, Chad, have been involved with the March of Dimes since 2007.
“We got involved after the passing of our first son,” she said, “and became aware of how the March of Dimes research helps premature babies and their families. We wanted the money people donated in his name to go to an organization that helped premature babies so we got involved with the March of Dimes and have been involved ever since.”
Last year’s walk raised over $22,000.
For more information about the March of Dimes, log onto www.marchofdimes.com/maine or www.marchforbabies.org, or call 289-2080.
