Born Before Their Time

Research by the March of Dimes has won 13 Nobel Prizes – and totally transformed the prognoses for preemies.

Born Before Their Time by ann taylor

“Y

ou’re having twins!”

Jenny Schoenfeld stared at the ultrasound technician. Surely she had made a mistake.

She hadn’t.

“I looked at the screen and immediately two little circles popped up and my heart started sinking. I was in a state of shock,” Jenny admits. “Heath and I had waited quite awhile to have children and I remember thinking how can I carry two babies, take care of two babies?”

“How could we afford two babies?” Heath adds, recalling his initial reaction upon hearing the news. But after the shock wore off the young couple excitedly told friends and family. Little did they know they were in for another one.

“The twins weren’t due until August 24 and my pregnancy was going really well until June 7 when I started going into premature labor,” says Jenny who was put on bed rest. When her water broke the night of June 18 she and Heath barely made it to the Indian River Medical Center before the babies were born five weeks early. Jacob arrived first, weighing 4 pounds, 9 ounces and wailing.

Two minutes later Casey, weighing 4 pounds, 5 ounces made his debut.

“Jacob was fine, but there were four doctors working on Casey who wasn’t making any noises. It was like your worst fears coming true,” says Heath. Casey was taken to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at Holmes Regional Medical Center in Melbourne and two days later his brother joined him there.

“Both boys were having a lot of trouble mastering breathing, sucking and swallowing,” Heath continues.

“You can prepare yourself as much as you can but you’re never prepared for the surprises that God delivers.”

Casey and Jacob finally came home on August 8 and today the 4 year olds are as Jenny says, “Very healthy and extremely active little boys. From the minute they get up in the morning they’re going every minute. They’re best friends, they fight like cats and dogs and they gang up on us!”

Jenny and Heath give much of the credit for their premature twins’ progress and their peace of mind to the support, information and research provided by the March of Dimes, the leading voluntary organization dedicated

Born prematurely, Casey and Jacob Schoenfeld spent the first five weeks of their lives in the NICU at Holmes Regional Medical Center in Melbourne.

They were snuggled next to each other in an isolette usually meant to hold one baby. As dad Heath says, “The doctors thought it would be best to keep them together just like they had been for the seven months prior.”

Happy, healthy and full of energy, 4-year-olds Casey and Jacob are now bundles of endless energy, rising well before dawn, hungry for breakfast and ready to start their day. “They’re best friends, fight like cats and dogs and they gang up on us,” laughs mom Jenny.

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Once again the Wemmer Family Orthodontics Team participated in this year’s six-mile March for Babies. Jenny, an orthodontist who has been working with her father for 11 years, and husband Heath had taken part in the walk before Casey and Jacob were born (Casey is in front with his mom and Jacob is in back being held by his dad). Now, Jenny says, “The walk means so much more to us since the twins were born.” “This year we moved the event from May to March and as a result we had 200 more participants and more corporate sponsorships,” says Pam Crowley, District Director of the March of Dimes’ Treasure Coast Chapter. The 2013 walk will be held on March 2, beginning and ending at Riverside Park. Sheriff Deryl Loar will chair the event which celebrates the March of Dimes 75th Anniversary.

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to improving the health of babies.

No one knows what causes half of all premature births, but scientific research is closing the gap.

The statistics are sobering. Nationally, over half-a-million babies are born prematurely each year and the numbers are increasing. Since 1981 there has been a 33 percent rise in premature births, with no known cause for 50 percent of them. In Florida a baby is born every 2.2 minutes.

While most are healthy, nearly one in eight is born too early and one in 43 is born with a serious birth defect.

The March of Dimes, whose mission is to improve the health of babies by preventing birth defects, premature birth and infant mortality,

raises funds to support cutting-edge research and innovative programs that save babies’ lives.

“Due to the March of Dimes advocacy efforts, Florida volunteers continue to help protect health-care coverage for low-income pregnant women, and work to improve newborn screening so that now every baby born is screened for 32 metabolic disorders for which there are interventions,” says Pam Crowley, District Director of the non-profit organization’s Treasure Coast Chapter, which serves Indian River, St. Lucie, Martin and Okeechobee counties. “We’re not under the United Way umbrella so we count on fundraising events like the March

for Babies, the Signature Chefs Auction and grants to financially support much-needed research.”

L

etting others know what the March of Dimes is all about is a priority, and this year Michael, Susie and their children, Natalie and Keaton LaCorte, are the Treasure Coast chapter’s Ambassador Family. They and their story couldn’t be more compelling – or inspiring.

When Natalie was born 15 weeks prematurely she weighed just 1 pound 6 ounces and measured 12½ inches long. Most of her body was covered with a fine soft hair typically shed by the seventh or eighth

Natalie LaCorte was born 15 weeks early, weighing a mere 1 pound 6 ounces, and was 12 ½ inches long. Her tiny foot was barely as big as one of father Michael’s fingertips.

A feisty little survivor, Natalie - and her family - have dealt with several health issues and surgeries, yet as Susie, pictured here with son Keaton and Natalie points out, their daughter has come a long way thanks to intensive therapy, a can-do attitude and a sunny outlook on life. “She is absolutely amazing!”

month in utero and her eyes were still fused shut. Diagnosed with a number of severe health issues her chances of survival were rated slim to none. The LaCorte’s daughter was in the NICU for 168 days, two months after her due date, before she was able to go home on oxygen as well as a breathing monitor. Since then the tiny survivor has undergone several surgeries needed to correct and control serious health issues.

Now 5½ years old, Natalie, who has cerebral palsy, epilepsy and severe developmental delay and requires continuous therapy, spreads joy wherever she goes. Always smiling, she loves to ride horses and eagerly participates in the Special Equestrians program. This summer Natalie, her younger brother Keaton – who was born nine weeks early and required open-heart surgery but is now

doing well – and mom Susie again spent seven weeks in Tucson, Ariz., where Natalie participated in an Ability Camp for Conductive Education.

“We have seen such tremendous progress. At four, Natalie couldn’t sit up on her own but after her first time at camp she was able to use her hand to help her get up.

She can now walk with a walker and it’s been a real boost in her strength and endurance,” Susie enthuses. “Because of some necessary brain surgery she can’t talk so we’re teaching her how to use a program with the iPad and she’s learning how to sign. I taught myself and now I’m teaching her. Natalie is just so amazing.”

This fall the little girl who weighed less than the iPad she communicates with when she was born will be a kindergartner at Sebastian Elementary School. Her parents couldn’t be more excited, or grateful for the support they’ve received. “We owe so many thanks to all the people who have cared for Natalie and especially to the March of Dimes who made her survival possible.”

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ndrea and Patrick Alley feel the same way.

Their son Elliot was born 10 weeks early, weighing 2 pounds, 11 ounces, and spent the first 2 1/2 months of his life in the NICU at Orlando’s Florida Hospital. One of the problems he faced was respiratory distress syndrome, which required high-frequency jet ventilator therapy to control high blood-pressure, gastric bleeding and bleeding in the brain.

Now 6 years old and a first grader at Osceola Magnet School, Elliott, who has cerebral palsy and a hearing loss, is bright, engaging and more than eager to show you his Snuggle Box, where carefully tucked inside are items that tell the story of how small he was when his life began.

There’s the tiny soft “snuggle bed” he slept in while in the incubator, a blood-pressure cuff the size of a postage stamp and a miniature diaper which Elliott holds up, quickly assuring you that it was never used.

A Snuggle Box was never part of Andrea’s pregnancy

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Mom Andrea Alley smiles as she finally gets to hold her tiny son. Elliott was born 10 weeks prematurely weighing 2 pounds, 11 ounces and spent the first months of his life in the NICU at Orlando’s Florida Hospital.

preparation plans. “I’d always dreamed about having children, and Patrick and I would talk and plan about how ours would be. He went with me to every doctor’s visit and everything was going just fine. I had just been in for a checkup two days before my water broke in the middle of the night and I had no idea what was going on,” says Andrea. “Who knows why Elliott was born so early?”

“When he was 15 days old they let me hold him for the first time while they changed his bedding. Then all these little monitor bells went off because he was breathing too fast. I was terrified,” recalls Patrick. “Our son had an overwhelming number of health issues and of course everything to us was traumatic, but there seemed like there was a treatment for everything that popped up and most of the solutions came about from research done by the March of Dimes. I really feel that without that research Elliott wouldn’t be here today.”

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Elliott faced an overwhelming number of health issues. “Everything to us was traumatic, but there seemed like there was a treatment for everything that popped up and most of the solutions came about from research done by the March of Dimes,” says dad Patrick.

“I really feel that without that research Elliott wouldn’t be here.”

Elliot and his father are the best of buddies. Now 6 years old and a firstgrader at Osceola Magnet School, Elliot, who has cerebral palsy, wears braces, and has a hearing aid in one ear, is bright, enthusiastic and engaging – a true joy to be around.

“If there’s anything we’ve learned, this obsession with charts with a special-needs child is that you just throw it out the window and celebrate every moment,” says Andrea, smiling at her son. “When others look at Elliott they may see a disability. When we look at him we see a miracle.”`

How The March BEgan President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, a victim of polio, established the March of Dimes on Jan. 3, 1938, in the belief that science needed to be harnessed to serve people and improve health.

Within 20 years the Salk vaccine was developed and polio was on the run. Since then, the organization has received 13 Nobel Prizes for its breakthrough research that has helped to improve the health of babies all across the U.S.