Hunter's Heart team was- Great Grammy Marjorie, GiGi Jerry, Grandpa Mark, Uncle Louie, Aunt Mandy, Uncle Chris, Mommy's friends, Rachel and Michelle, Grandma (me), friends Jerry & Laura and Laura's sister, Linda, more friends Stephanie, Tom & Sharon, Mommy (Carissa) and the little man, himself, Hunter!
When I heard, "March of Dimes", I always associated it with premature births but March of Dimes does so much more. They are instrumental in funding important research programs to help give all babies a healthy start in life. This includes birth defects, those such as congenital heart defects like Hunter's.
When I went to drop off donations at an early drop off downtown, I was sharing Hunter's story.... like grandma does :) and the director of the Central Indiana Chapter, Judy seemed to be excited as I was telling her about Hunter. She asked if I would do her a favor at the walk, I had no idea what she was about to ask. She asked if I would fill in as the speaker for the "birth defect" family representative, due to the original family was not going to be able to make it. I was excited and said, yes.....then reality set it!!! OMG...how many of thousands of people would be there ???? She sent me some guidelines of what was going to be said by the 3 different areas, premature births, birth defects and infant mortality.
Standing up on the bridge, next to Grace Treyhan from WRTV 6, holding Hunter, with Mommy waving the red flag for birth defects this is what I said....
"Good morning, my name is Debbie and I am walking today in honor of my grandson, Hunter. This is Hunter's mommy, Carissa, and this beautiful little, happy guy is Hunter. He will be one year old next Wednesday. Hunter was born with a severe congenital heart defect. Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome is the under-development or absence of the left side of the heart. Approximately 1 in 100 babies are born with a heart defect. Without the support and research that March of Dimes provides, improved technology would not be available for our babies to survive and mature. Please raise your red fan if your are walking today for someone with a birth defect!"
And somehow I managed to get through it all without stammering too badly, or Hunter grabbing the microphone but as soon as I walked away, the overwhelm of emotions took over. Thank goodness it wasn't in front of that sea of people!
It was a beautiful day to walk the canal and honor that little boy and all of the other babies that have had such difficult starts in life! Team Hunter was a wonderful success and raised in excess of $2,000 for March of Dimes!!
I will say it again..... OVER $2,000!!!! AWESOME, I must say!!!
It was great to look from the bridge and see our team waiting for us below!
Some of our team on the walk
Hunter was "chillaxin"!
Families of all kinds out for the day!
We are kind of partial to this place! Thanks for the support St. Vincent PMCH!
This was Hunter's reaction to having to get up early for the walk!
Looking forward to creative fundraising for next years walk!
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