Have you seen the "realistic" preemie doll by Ashton-Drake????

I love the idea of using the ad in a speech! What a wonderful idea..."Isn't this preemie cute? Doesn't she look healthy? Is this what you thought a preemie looked like? Well, let me show what a preemie is really all about, Amanda at one time had chubby cheeks but it was only because of the steriods she was on to help wean her from the ventilator because her lungs were so bad she had to have help just to breath..." and I could go on and on and on and on and on....

Thanks, guys!!!!!!!
Hugs!
Michele

As many of you have already done, I did submit my letter to the stack....and of course got the same form letter back...

Thanks Michele for what you add to any conversation! You have a talent for putting a spin of humor and/or creativity that warms people's hearts or shoves a mirror in front of them.

As others have said, as parent's of preemies, we have been through so much...one voice at a time....makes one loud voice. We have the ability in us to make change something that really does happen.

Melissa Middleton (Mom of Alex *deceased* Ben, Callie, and Donovan)

Hello ladies I to sent a letter but I sent mine to the FOX 29 news channel, the have a segment thats called What's Bugging You?? Well I e-mailed them a letter about this doll so we will have to see what happens, this is what I wrote to them.
 What's Bugging me is that Ashton Drake has put a new doll out on the market and her name is Grace and they are advertising her as a preemie baby doll, although this doll is very cute she represents nothing of the sort, she is very plump and healthy looking unlike a real premature baby does. I should know this due to the fact that I gave birth to a 25 week premature baby that only weighed 1 lb and 15 oz and was 13 inches long. He spent alomost three months in the NICU hooked up to IV's and was also attached to a ventilator for 6 weeks because there was no way that he could survive due to his lungs being so underdeveloped to breath on his own. He recieved blood transfusions and was treated for a heart condition and had ROP a eye condition, among all the other countless complications that went along with being born to soon. I can also say that it is not all roses after they come home from the hospital, we had to got many doctor appt. at the children's hosp in DE (Dupont). Sometimes 3 a week with different specialists, and what fun that was hooked up to Oxygen, heart monitor and a pulse ox machine that went off all the time, maybe the company should really take a good look at what a premature baby looks like before they market such a doll, it was very disheartening for all of us at the March of Dimes share web site. Many of us parents from the site are sending letters to the company to voice our disappointment in there decision.

Andrea Green
Ladies I want to send a letter to the company but I need the e-mail address that you all used cna someone offer it to me thanks

yes I have seen this " so called preemie" through our web site, I asked the other day for someone to show the letter the the company sent. also I need the web site or address to the company. I am not happy with this doll! its so sad what people will do for money!

I just sent you via e-mail the letter and the link for the response! Hope this helps!!

Hugs!
Michele

Hey everyone. I sent my letter off, and I invited the CEO to form a WalkAmerica team with his company and gave him walk options in the Niles area. I am so glad we are able to speak out for the smallest, all thanks to the March of Dimes.

Kathleen Stahl

Hi, this is Pam at the March of Dimes, one of the moderators for the SHARE site. The March of Dimes shares your concerns about the preemie doll currently being advertised by Ashton-Drake. Just wanted to let you know that the March of Dimes will also be sending a letter to the company. The moderators will keep you posted.

Best wishes to all of you and thank you so much for your participation in SHARE. As I have said to some of you, your stories and your love for your children are an inspiration to us.

I SEE YOU RESPONDED TO ME BUT, MAYBE I'M NOT UNDERSTANING SOMETHING, I AM NOT GOOD AT THIS COMPUTER THING. ( SORRY, FOR TAKING YOU TIME) I THOUGHT THE COMPANY SENT A LETTER FOR US? ABOUT THE DOLL. ALSO TO WHAT EMAIL ADDRESS CAN I SENT TO THEM? IF YOU HAVE TIME PLEASE LET ME KNOW! ALITTLE CONFUSED

I HAVE BEEN TRYING TO SEE THE RESPONCE IF YOU GOT ONE. PLEASE LET ME KNOW . THANKYOU SHACARM

I'M SO SORRY TO BOTHER YOU AND EVERYONE ELSE, YOU SAID THAT YOU VIA EMAILED ME THE RESPONCE? I DONT KNOW WHERE IT IS?

Here's the note I sent. Of course, all I got was the canned answer.

Ashton Drake Company,

I am simply outraged at your firm’s portrayal of a “truly realistic preemie” in the “little Grace” doll. (http://ashtondrake.collectiblestoday.com/ct/product/prdid-300063001.jsp) The entire concept and marketing of this contrivance is a disgrace to your company, and plainly offensive to parents of premature babies. To think that you would hope to profit from a deeply tragic event like a premature birth. Shame on you. Next, will you be creating “lifelike” car accident surviving babies. How adorable they will be!

The doll itself is a farce. It looks nothing like a 15 1/2 inch preemie. I had a 15 1/2 inch preemie, I have attached her photograph for your reference. Please note the lack of any body fat, the mass of electronics and medical equipment needed to keep her alive, and the inability of a loving parent to even hold their new child or see her face. Of course, if you marketed the “Loving Isolette” as an add on, you’d make a fortune! Does your doll come with the sleeve of forms requesting Medicaid assistance and special therapies through State and County facilities? Does your doll come with 213 pages of hospital bills? (I can forward those for your reference as well.) The fulfillment of these “cute extras” would be quite tricky and may increase the sweet spot price at which you offer this little gem. (Admittedly, $129.00 is a bargain, our preemie cost well over half a million!)

Furthermore, who in their right mind would WANT to have a preemie, given the choice? These tiny babies struggle, many have serious and often lifelong disabilities. I wouldn’t wish a preemie, or the parental hell they initially bring, upon anyone, and yet, here you are selling it as “cute.”

All I can say is I am disgusted. I am forwarding this note to my friends and business associates and my local media outlets. There is a large and powerful public forum at the March of Dimes, the members of which are doing the same as I.

Regards,

Todd Bemis
Parent of a preemie
Atlanta, Georgia

P.S. I just noticed that your doll is missing surgery scars! Good Lord! How unbelievable, no scars. Your designer didn’t do their homework.

Here is the company's response... Dear Valued Client,

Thank you for contacting us with your concerns regarding "May God Bless You, Little Grace Lifelike Baby Doll."

We certainly did not intend to offend anyone with this depiction of a premature baby. As not all babies start out on equal footing, this doll is meant to represent a celebration of life. Thanks to the advances in medical treatment, and the loving care of parents and family, there are most often happy, healthy babies.

Thank you again for contacting us as we always appreciate your comments. Please respond to this email if we may be of further assistance.

Sincerely,

James Hunnington
collectiblestoday.com Customer Service

Shacarm,
You're just having navigational problems, that's all! See the arrows on the grey bar on the right side of the screen that say outline, all, prev, top, last, next? Click on the up and down arrows that say ALL and you will be able to see all the posts. There you'll find the letters written by us and the companies response. Noone (as of yet) has gotten a personal letter from the company, instead they email a standard predrafted form letter in response.
Hope this helps. Also, if you didn't get Michele's email make sure your preferences are set to forward your MOD email to your regular email adress. I don't know how to retrieve the MOD email either. Good luck!

Andrea,

The email address is:
www.collectiblestoday.com

Have at it girlfriend!!!

I'm curious as to wether they will really do something about it or not!! I've been watching the site to see if any advertising has changed on the doll and thus far nothing has changed.

Karri

Thanks so much now I can send them my own letter.
   Andrea

just wanted everyone to know that i have contacted OPRAH WINFREY, NBC, CBS, and DATELINE i hope n pray for all of our mircles and angels that something will be done about this issue i am also sooo sorry for all of us preemie moms who have to go through this it is a slap in the face i will keep u all updated on my responces i hope somebody can get through to them

Hello ladies!

Andrea, no problem on the address.

Brandy, Great job on contacting all those avenues! Hopefully someone will hear our "United Voice"

Question to everyone:

I'm trying to find the ABC link to the John Stosel segments..."Shame On You". He runs them, I believe, on Primetime or 20/20, but I can't seem to be able to find the link on how to contact him on this one. Any suggestions???

Thanks,
Karri

Well, I got my reply too...they decided to change it up a bit but it reads much the same....

Dear Valued Client,

Thank you for contacting us with your concerns regarding "May God Bless
You, Little Grace" lifelike baby doll.

We certainly did not intend to offend anyone with this depiction of a
premature baby. Although we recognize that premature babies may not
always appear the way our artist has depicted, their strength and
willingness to survive will always shine through.

As not all babies start out on equal footing, this doll is meant to
represent a celebration of life. It represents the love and strength of
these babies and the love and strength of their parents. Thanks to the
advances in medical treatment, and the loving care of parents and family,
there are more happy and healthy babies then ever before.

Thank you again for contacting us as we always appreciate your
comments.

Sincerely,

James Hunnington
collectiblestoday.com Customer Service

JohnStossel@abcnews.com

that's the only thing I found about how to contact him...hope it helps.

I don't think the 'new and improved' form letter is much better. It's still ignorant. They are still spreading misconception. They don't want to discontinue her. It probably costs less than $10 to make her and they're making a bundle.

Ah well. She's still cheaper than Logan, who at last count had hit 1 million dollars. Top that Ashton-Drake.

"willingness to survive"??? What on earth does that mean? That's just plain terrible copywriting.

And sadly, it does not "always shine through."

What a load.

I've jumped on the bandwagon and sent my letter too. I can't believe the doll, but even more, I can't believe their response letter. Yes, many preemies are "okay", but they endure so much just to be that way. ACK!!!!! It is so sad that some people will see that doll and think it's nothing to have a preemie.

Hello All-

Sadly, even babies who fight the hardest...and have such a "willingness to survive" still die in the NICU. My Alex had a "willingness to survive" but still died at 3 weeks old in my arms. My other 3 had a "willingness to survive" and they are here with me now. What DOES "willingness to survive" mean according to Ashton Drake?

And honestly, why don't they explain what "healthy" means to them? I suppose healthy could be true...but OH the work that it takes to get and keep them there! Remember everyone how long it took our kiddies to get over a deadly infection in the NICU aka. any infection our child gets in the NICU is potentially deadly. Or the constant reflux when we bring them home...or constant weight management...or the early intervention...????

Many times parents pour ALL of their love into these precious kids, and still they are not what most might consider healthy! Not for a while anyway...my doctors did not consider our kids "healthy" until they were pushing at 1 years old.

Actually, the second letter makes me madder than the first letter. At least the first letter was glowing with blatent insensitivity...the second one is blaten with false sensitivity!
 

Hoping each Pops is doing just great...stay healthy...lots of nasty flu and RSV bugs are floating around East Texas!

Melissa Middleton (mom of 25 wk'r quads. Alex *deceased*, Ben, Callie, and Donovan)

FRIDAY FEB. 4TH I SENT A LETTER TO THE COMPANY. I HAVE'NT RECEIVED A LETTER BACK. I LET THEM KNOW HOW MY PREEMIE AND ALL OF OUR PREEMIES NEVER COME HOME LOOKING THAT HEALTHY AND THE PINK, WITH MIND YOU NO SCARS WHERE'S THE APNEA MONITOR? WHERE ARE THE SCARS? I AGREE WITH SOMEONE WHO SAID JUST CHANGE THE NAME! WELL I AM PROUD THAT I VOICED MY HEART, AND MIND!

Hello.

I also wrote tot them,but they never responded to my eamil at all.I see that you were asking about the ones who give awards to these dolls.Well,I was looking through the site,trying to see where else I can write,and came across this where Ashton-Drake has the line of "Truly Real" dolls up for sale.

Maybe we can find something out about these people.I hope it hel[s a bit,I am getting tired of the lame response that they keep sending us as well.That last response teeters in between stupidty,ignorance,and just plain cruel.

Like Melissa said,what does willingness mean to them.I have other friends whose preemie babies,nieces and so on fought so hard only to have their poor bodies just give out,their bodies just weren't strong enough,but that doesn't mean that they weren't fighting hard enough,I feel that they were and still are the bravest to endure all that has happened to them.

Unfortunately,the Ashton-Drake company just wants to justify this reclkless creation of a doll no matter how lame they sound.They just want that $130.00 a doll plus shipping and handling.But hopefully all these emails will make them think before they come up with something stupid again.Anyways,I hope that these magazines can help.Take care.

Deborah,Mom to Eleanor~Rose
Ex 27 weeker,now 5 years old.

Baby Emily has won the Dolls Award of Excellence sponsored by Doll Magazine, the DOTY award, sponsored by Doll Reader Magazine, and she has also won the NALED Doll of the Year.

Hello all!

This company continues to amaze me!!! I don't even know what to say anymore!

Thanks for the John Stossel address. I'll be contacting him also!

Have a good night everyone!
Karri

Thought I would share my message with everyone. Let me know if you hear back from any of the network news stations.

To whom it may concern:

I was shocked and appalled when I saw the "real life preemie doll". Little Grace is a gross misrepresentation of what a premature baby really is. A preemie is not a smaller version of a term baby but typically a very sick baby struggling just to survive. Reading about "the hours you'll spend cuddling and loving this lifelike collectible preemie doll!" brought back sad memories of how I couldn't hold or even touch my baby. When I finally did hold him after a week I was able to hold him for about five minutes before having to put him back under the heat lams and billiruben lights. Even while I was holding him I could barely touch him because he was covered in electronic monitors and needles.

I think you would never dream of creating a life like brain bleed baby or an omphalacele baby (that's where the intestines are formed on the outside of the body). Why not? These are both problems that preemies face. You wouldn't because it would be disgusting and offensive to portray these babies as they really are. Just imagine how much more offensive it would be to see a baby like this portrayed as a perfectly healthy baby.

The truth is, I am not writing this letter to express my own offense to this doll. I am writing for the people who have no idea that this is not what a preemie baby looks like. I, and all of the other people who have written in, are educated and informed about the dangers of premature birth. But for each one of us I can only imagine that there are hundreds of younger, uneducated women that are or will become pregnant and don't take as good of care of themselves as they should because they are not concerned about the consequences. In their minds the worst case scenario is that they will have a baby that looks like Little Grace. And isn't a tiny baby cuter than a full term one anyway? It may sound far fetched to you but I work with children and teens who were so excited about how small my baby was. They thought it was cute that he could fit in the palm of my hand. If they had understood the seriousness of the situation, if they hadn't been exposed to false images, such as your Little Grace, then they never would have thought that a preemie was cuter than a healthy, full term baby. Luckily I was able to teach them the truth, but how many did I miss? How many babies will be born prematurely because of this preemie myth that you are helping to perpetuate?

As for your artist.... Here is a more realistic image of a "real life preemie".

?

Please understand our pain and take measures to put right the tremendous wrong you have created. These babies deserve so much more.

Proud parent of a Preemie

Melissa Bailey

http://www.alittlepregnant.com/alittlepregnant/files/doll.html

Ah yes, exactly what it's really like.

I think there should be a beanie-baby next to her that is at least as large as she. Or maybe the wedding ring on her bicep.

Or the scalp IV is just sooo darling.

About the only thing they forgot was the price! Let's see I think it should be at least $500,000 but unexpectedly the cost could jump to as high as $1,000,000 and then you will have yearly costs incurred and will be required to send them an additional $200 per month until at least the age of 3....sheesh!

I do have to say that I cried when I saw the "realistic" depiction of the preemie doll. I hope that Ashton Drake and the artist will see that and KNOW that this is just part of what some of our kids went through. I remember very well Amanda's heels looking like hamburger meat...when I rub her feet now I can feel the scars left on her heels...it breaks my heart! I can also look at her arms and show you at least 6 places where IVs were placed. Sometimes the NICU experience seems so far away, sometimes it feels like just yesterday...

Hugs and tears!
Michele