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James SooHoo

July 2010

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UPDATES

Sep 12, 2005 07:53am (EST)

Hi everyone,

As one of my co-workers mentioned to me on Friday, what’s the point of having a blog if you aren’t going to write anything. While I have been following everything going on in the community, I guess I needed that friendly kick in the pants.

First and foremost, I want to say how amazing it is that so many of you put together care packages for the hurricane victims. I was in Atlanta during the hurricane and saw the first refugees arriving from the gulf coast. They were coming in on caravans of busses from the veteran hospitals. Even through many of them were connected to oxygen tanks and various equipment, they were the lucky ones, they were the ones well enough to travel. There were still so many left behind. It means so much that you all gave of your time, money and effort to help people you will never meet. I am so proud to “know” all of you and be a part of this community.

Second, since my blog is technically entitled “behind the scenes with James,” I thought it would be appropriate to mention two of my co-workers: Judi Gooding and Liza Cooper. They are both working around the clock on the hurricane relief. Liza went down to Baton Rouge, Louisiana to help out in the NICU and the shelters and Judi is coordinating March of Dimes efforts nationally. They are two of the most angelic people I have ever met and both are personal heroes of mine. If you ever have the chance to meet them, you will know instantly that they would hate that I’m writing about them now and would say that they are just doing their jobs. They don’t, however, have the chance to ever read my blogs so I can say what I want and I just want to say that they always go so above and beyond, I am forever humbled in their presence.

Finally, I also want to let you know that Nancy and a couple of our community members (Michelle, Donna, Melissa, Karri and Darcy) will be speaking about the importance of SHARE in San Diego this week. The audience of almost 1,100 people include some of our most important volunteers from around the country, business leaders, doctors, researchers and key March of Dimes staff. I will keep you posted from San Diego this week.

Thanks again for all you are doing for the families in the gulf coast. I know that it is very much appreciated!

Very best,

- James

Ps. If you haven’t had a chance, take a look at Liza’s blog from Baton Rouge.

Posted by James SooHoo | Comments: (6) | Permalink

MGB (MINI GUMMY BEAR)

Aug 15, 2005 09:53am (EST)

Thanks for all of the messages! We saw our (aptly named by Melissa) “Mini Gummy Bear” last week. Sorry it took so long to share this. It took me a little while to figure out how I truly felt about it all. When it was just a little circle it was very easy to be excited. When it grew into something that looked like a stryrofoam peanut, I started to get nervous about the future. And then in one short month, we suddenly had a little body. He/she has eyes and a mouth. And he/she was moving his/her arms and legs around like a fish in a bowl. In fact, my wife who is a physician and conducted many sonograms, said it was the most active little baby she’s ever seen at this stage.

And then it hit me that this was real. I had one of those time/space altering, “life flashing before you” kind of moments. My life would change forever. I can say now that I’m excited that my life will change. At the time, all I could think about was that it would change. Right now, I’m counting down the days to February with excitement. At the time, I was thinking that this was moving too fast.

All of that said, thanks for all of your support and excitement for us. We really appreciate it. Kristen is doing well. She has already gained a much needed 12 pounds. She’s no longer feeling nauseous. Right now, she’s just tired all of the time. I’m going to have her do a guest blog for me in the next week or two. I just wanted to wait until she stopped being cranky.

Posted by James SooHoo | Comments: (11) | Permalink

THE POWER OF VOLUNTEERS

Aug 08, 2005 08:56am (EST)

Honestly, I can't believe SHARE is only 1. It seems like Darcy, Karri, Sharlene, Melissa, Brenda, Donna, Hailey, Nancy and all of my other friends on SHARE have been a part of my life for so much longer.

I still remember when the was just an idea that Marc Sirkin was tossing around. Marc sat in the office next to mine and would talk about it from time to time. I remember then, that I kind of brushed him off with a little "okay, Marc, you go do that" and didn't think much about it one way or the other. At the time, I was putting together the framework for the Family Team program, so one would have thought I would have listened to him more. Okay, no one has ever accused me of being the brightest star in the sky.

And, now, one year later SHARE and Family Teams are two of the top things the organization is most proud of from 2004/2005. That said, and Marc would agree with this, neither would have happened without the guidance and support from our volunteers. For me, Melanie Sweeney worked tirelessly around the clock writing Family Team materials and helping me roll the whole program out across the country. Likewise for Marc, Michelle Reeves was there every step of the way providing her input, suggestions, changes, guidance. Without Melanie there would be no Family Team program; without Michelle there would be no SHARE. Both radically changed the entire organization for the better.

The power of volunteers is amazing. You all, everyone here at SHARE, have done so much to get the word out, to help us fund important programs and research, to help us save babies and their parents from the sometimes devastating effects of prematurity. Thank you so much.

Posted by James SooHoo | Comments: (9) | Permalink

SOME PERSONAL NEWS

Aug 04, 2005 12:21pm (EST)

Hey....we don't really have a dimesblog anymore, so you can now find me here. For those that don't know me, I'm James. I work at the national office of the March of Dimes and am part of the SHARE team.

I'll be using this space to talk about what's going on at the March of Dimes as well as great ways to get involved to help us get the message out about the problem of prematurity. But, I'll start all of that tomorrow.

As most of you know, I love this site. I was a little hesitant at first about going on, but have really come to appreciate and love the community and all of the friends I have made here.

That said, I thought you would all be the first people I would tell that my wife is expecting our first child. On Tuesday, she moved into her second trimester. You have all been where I'm at today. I'm nervous and excited all at once. If you created a blog here, look on the right hand side at the box of "expressions" (basically all of the faces like

). I go through every one of those expressions over the course of a minute.

Anyway.....wish us luck and keep it a secret. I haven't even told the people here yet.

very best,

- James

Posted by James SooHoo | Comments: (15) | Permalink