MOD speech

nicumom - 12:23am May 14, 2011 EST

Looking for ideas on what to say about MOD at our local walk.
Here is the rough draft of my speech.

Three years ago today our family got to bring home our small bundle of joy. 119 days after his premature birth. 119 days that seemed endless three years ago. Now I look back and know the March of Dimes made those 119 days even possible.
The night Joshua was born he was so small his eyes were still sealed shut. His skin was so very thin it seemed translucent. That is just what I saw. I can’t begin to imagine how fragile his lung tissue was that night. The NICU team quickly started surfactant therapy which kept his lung tissue from sealing shut. For those who don’t know surfactant is a therapy that was funded by the March of Dimes. Hundreds of thousands of people have stood where you are standing today. So that on the frightful night Joshua could be saved. I have not one doubt in my mind that he would not have lived through the first 24 hours without surfactant. As we gather today in honor and memory of so many lives we are touching the future the same way the past walkers touched our family. The money we have raised will develop even greater technology that will help our smallest babies survive.

Joshua’s journey was not the normal rollercoaster but a funnel of one issue after another. Our hopes for Joshua to make it home seemed to dwindle day by day. The nurses tried their best to support us but their main job was saving Joshua not our mental health. I ache inside knowing that right now a family is hurting as much as we hurt and there is no support at their side. I don’t want for any more families to feel so alone so in need to support. The March of Dimes has a mission to provide support for families like us who are hurting. This mission is only possible through the support of fund raising.