Responding
to March of Dimes Initiative
How can the March of Dimes
propose to survey the problem
of prematurely - investing
$75,000,000 as they profess
to be doing - and not acknowledge
the companion problem of
stillbirth.
Does not their motto, "Saving
babies, together" embrace
stillbirth. My daughter
Camille was 41 weeks, 8
pounds and 21 inches. (www.camilleolsen.com)
She died as my wife slept,
on the eve of her planned
delivery. Why is Camille
not a baby, but a 24-week
premature one pounder a
baby worth saving. How does
MOD know the same processes
are not at work in the death
of both of them. And yet
for some reason which we
fail to understand, MOD
ignores stillbirth. We have
never heard MOD President
Dr. Jennifer Howse ever
utter the word "stillbirth".
In fact, we tried a little
test, just to be certain
we didn't miss it.
We went to GOOGLE and under
"Advanced Search"
typed in "Dr. Jennifer
Howse". There were
132 references. Next, we
added the word "prematurity"
and discovered 54 references
containing both prematurity
and "Dr. Jennifer Howse".
Next, in place of "prematurity"
we typed the word "stillbirth".
It came as no surprise to
us that the number of references
that came up was ZERO.
Dr. Jennifer Howse, a medical
doctor committed to fighting
birth defects and "Saving
babies, together" has
never spoken or written
the word stillbirth during
her tenure as President
of The March of Dimes.
1. Is there any "birth
defect" more serious
than the absence of a beating
heart?
2. Why is $75,000,000 not
being invested by MOD in
research to discover how
to save the two-thirds of
the 26,000 babies that are
born every year, perfectly
formed, viable, but still?
The
baby pictured here is Will.
He may look like he's just
sleeping but it's a sleep
from which he will never
awaken. The fact that his
death just days before his
anticipated "due date"
is unexplained should prompt
us all to cry out for answers.
Instead, stillbirth mothers
are left without answers,
without hope, without their
dream.
There is no joyous homecoming
for stillbirth parents.
We close the door on the
world, and forget our place
in it. We are childless
parents, and no one cares.
Not MOD and certainly not
the National Institute of
Child Health and Human Development
(NICHD). From 1997 to 2001
they invested almost $4,000
per year per SIDS fatality
in research. During the
same period stillbirth fatalities
received a paltry $3.32.
Not even enough to send
every stillbirth mother
a decent condolence card.
From this point forward,
let us resolve that everytime
we heard about MOD's prematurity
initiative, we ask ourselves
and them, "Why is the
companion syndrome of stillbirth
not being studied as well"?
For
more about The National
Stillbirth Society:
www.stillnomore.org
stillnomore@cox.net
