'Whatever it takes to save my baby': Crowds march in Baltimore for research in premature births (Baltimore Sun)
Monday May 8th, 2017
JersyAnn Richards dressed for work one morning in January expecting to finish a contract with the nonprofit March of Dimes. Then she felt the first pang of childbirth.
The mother from Owings Mills wasn't due for months. It was too soon, she thought, as she rushed to Greater Baltimore Medical Center.
Her co-workers at her real estate firm finished the contract to host the March of Dimes fundraiser beneath the Canton Tower. And four months later, on Sunday morning, nearly 2,000 people gathered in the cold and drizzle to walk through Southeast Baltimore and raise an estimated $625,000 for research into premature births and infant mortality.
Even as the contract was settled that morning, Richards was wheeled into the maternity ward. The 35-year-old property manager faced her own premature delivery. Her baby was 22 weeks old and too young, the doctors said, to survive outside her womb.
Richards shared her experience Sunday, saying she hoped mothers would find comfort and support knowing they're not alone. One in 10 babies in the United States is born too soon, according to the March of Dimes. Crowds of mothers and fathers gathered at the windy Canton waterfront to hope.
"Who is excited to march for babies today?" Dr. Leana Wen, Baltimore's health commissioner, called to the crowd.
"For me, it's personal," she said, holding her belly. "As you can see."
Wen's first child is due in August.
Wen said a health department campaign to promote healthy births began in 2009 and now saves 50 babies a year, reducing Baltimore's infant mortality rate about 40 percent.