March for Babies - In honor of Maddie

A couple months ago one of my friend, Mama2Addie, asked if I wanted to participate in the March of Dimes – March for Babies this year. The mission of March of Dimes is to improve the health of babies by preventing birth defects, premature birth, and infant mortality. My thought was absolutely, it'll be fun. Although I don’t have a preemie or a child with birth defects, I wanted to help other babies and moms. And I'm a social butterfly and love community social events.

The thought of fundraising is a concept I’ve never been good at. I’ve never sold Girl Scout cookies, I’ve never raised funds for my school or sports. Asking people for money is something I just DON’T do. Knowing that I’m not the type of person to ask people for money, I set my fundraising goal at $100, an amount I could afford. Knowing very well it would come from my checking account.

March for Babies in Bakersfield is April 25^th. At the beginning of April, I was looking at my calendar and making plans.Plans that would entail me being out of town for the March for Babies. I messaged Katrina and told her I’m planning on not marching. Additionally, I emailed another mom who is planning on walking, Karen, who does have twin preemies who lived in the NICU after birth for a period of time and are now about a year old. In my email to her, I told her I would be out of town for the walk and thus not walking but I will be continuing to donate. Because I thought the bottom line was to collect donations. But all that changed……

For those that don’t know, I’m a twitter junkie. Twitter is a micro-blogging social networking community. And wow does news travels fast! That has never been more evident than when I woke on April 8^th to hear a fellow twitter mom lost her daughter. A mom who I’ve have never met before. A daughter I’ve never met before. A dad I have never met. A family I have never met. And yet, I'm heartbroken.

Although I have never met fellow mom blogger, Heather or her husband, Mike in person, they are in my heart daily. Their sweet daughter, Madeline Alice Spohr was called to heaven on April 7^th, 2009. She was born eleven weeks premature and had a difficult start in life, but Maddie lived a loving, fun, strong and courageous 17 months of life. After I heard the news that Maddie passed, tears could not stop flowing. My heart is still hurting for them and this huge loss to the world. I will continue to cry off and on for their loss. A loss that is truly unimaginable. She will not be forgotten.

I have now changed all my plans to leave town because after hearing about the loss of Maddie, I plan on walking proudly in her memory. So please if you can support March for Babies, our team Haute Mamas. Also please come out and walk.

Because... she was here damn it! And that we can not forget! We can't forget any parents who have left the NICU without thier child in arms. We can not forget the tears families, strangers, friends, nurses, communities has shed. We can not forget!

4/25/2009 9:00:00 AM

Liberty Park
11225 Brimhall Road
Bakersfield, CA 93312

Because it's not just about donations and money. It's also about support. This little girl blessed so many. My heart goes out to all moms that have lost a child. If you have a moment please watch this tribute to Madeline by her parents. I would hope her story impacts your life as it has mine.

It you have a Twitter account, please send your prayers,thoughts and words of kindness to @mamaspohr and @newbornidentity. Please also use the hashtag #maddie.

Also, please purchase Maddie's Monster. Profits from the sale of Maddie's Monster are donated to the March of Dimes in Maddie's memory.

If you’d like to make a direct donation through PayPal to help Mike and Heather with funeral, medical, and other costs, please click HERE.

If you’d like to help, please consider donating to the March of Dimes in honor of Maddie:

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BakoMom is the mom behind Mom eConnect. A Bakersfield Mom's online destination. BakoMom can be described as hard-working, sometimes delusional, proud, yet neurotic mom, once type-A, loving wife, drama queen, domestic CEO, conservative, opinionated, registered nurse, and a diligent citizen. I can also be found on Twitter.

Reported by FaceNews as the leading Bakersfield mommy twitterer. "What sets her apart is real-time talk of her kid and discussions of relevant news topics. She’s kind of like Bakersfield’s own member of The View."

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March for Babies - In honor of Maddie