Stikii LOVES Babies!

Attention Stikii lovers! The Toledo March for Babies is being held this weekend at 5/3 Field downtown! Stikii is proud to announce that they will be joining the cause and marching in support of “Cayden’s Crew and Max Too”, this Sunday, April 15 2012.

The following email/letter from the Greenblatt family will help to explain who and what exactly Stikii is supporting during this 3 mile walk through downtown Toledo.

 Constant change.  Such is life.  The glass can be half full, half empty, overflowing, leaking……  All cliché.  All true.  As we grow from childhood exuberance to young adulthood, we learn so much.  As we grow further, many of us choose to marry and to start a family.  More responsibilities.  New hopes and dreams.  With all change comes excitement, anxiety, apprehension, emotions.  While change can be met with opposition, it is inevitable.  Nothing ever seems to go according to plan.  

We were expecting our first child in February, 2006.  Unfortunately, due to complications we were unaware of, our son Jonah was born (and died) in September, 2005.  Our hopes and dreams were crushed in an instant.  But we were determined; we moved forward.  In the summer of 2006, we were expecting again, due March 1, 2007.  This pregnancy was monitored much more closely.  Bed rest in the hospital started at 19 weeks.  It lasted 5 weeks until Cayden was born on November 11th,2006.  He weighed 1 pound, 14 ounces, and was 13 ½ inches long.  His eyes were fused shut.  He resembled E.T.  We weren’t able to hold him for 2 weeks, he was too fragile.  We were told he had a 50% chance of survival and if he survived, he had a 50% chance of having a permanent disability.  He spent his first 81 days in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Toledo Children’s Hospital.  He finally came home, on an apnea monitor, 1 month before his due date.  That was over 5 years ago.  Along the way, we have learned he has no hearing in his right ear (completely deaf), he has a disorder with his optical nerve and needs to wear glasses, he contracted (and beat) bacterial meningitis 3 times (due to the deformity in his right ear which caused the hearing loss as well), he has no working labyrinth on his right side which causes balance issues, he has Celiac disease which results in him needing to maintain a completely gluten free diet for the rest of his life.   The list goes on and on.  The list of doctors and therapists goes on and on.  SO WHAT!!!  What we have today is an amazing little man who will be starting kindergarten in a typical classroom this fall.  Cayden, born so early and so sick  5 years ago, is now excited to ride the bus and go to school.  He is an articulate, creative, loving big brother to Max (aka “Tank”) who was born in February, 2010 (at full term after months of bed rest yet again). In the last year we have all seen improvements in development, growth, and overall health.

When facing so many challenges and so much adversity, what do you do?  Meet it head on?  Fight it?  Learn from it?  Teach from it?  Give back because of it?  Pay it forward?  We choose to give back and pay forward and are asking  for your help.  

Without the March of Dimes, Cayden, along with thousands of others, would not be here today. One thing in particular, as an example, that allowed Cayden to survive is a drug call Surfactant.  It helps premature lungs to develop more rapidly and is the reason babies can have a chance to survive at such early birth dates and low weights.  Surfactant was developed through research funded by the March of Dimes.  The mission of the March of Dimes is to improve the health of babies by preventing birth defects, premature birth, and infant mortality (we have been affected by all 3).  In addition to funding research, the March of Dimes educates women on how to increase their chances of having a healthy baby, provides families with comfort and information while their babies are in intensive care, and offers newborn screenings and prenatal care for expectant mothers.

Please help us  pay it forward so that the March of Dimes can continue working  to achieve its mission and envision the day when no family will have a story similar to ours.  We are asking you to help by walking with us on Sunday, April 15th in the Toledo March for Babies.  If you are unable to join us, please help us by donating to the March of Dimes through our team website at:  http://www.marchforbabies.org/team/CaydensCrewAndMaxToo .  By following the link you can join the team and/or donate, as well as see more pictures, get more details about our story, or learn more about the March of Dimes.

Thank you in advance!

With love,

Cayden, Max, Denise and Mark Greenblatt

In Memory of Jonah Greenblatt 9/22/05

The March for Babies is an event organized by the March of Dimes in support of premature babies. The March of Dimes is an organization focused on helping mothers-to-be have successful, full-term pregnancies and to research the problems that threaten the health of infants.

The National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis, as it was originally called, was created by President Franklin Roosevelt (FDR) in 1938 in response to an increasing polio (a condition that can leave those effected crippled) epidemic.  Roosevelt himself was diagnosed with polio back in 1921, which left him unable to move his legs, this is why in many images FDR is pictured in a wheel chair. Now, better known as the March of Dimes, the foundation established a polio patient aid program and funded research for vaccines which eventually ended the polio outbreak in the United States.

With its original goal of eliminating polio finally accomplished, the March of Dimes faced the decision to either disband or dedicate its current and future resources to a new mission. Basil O’Connor, March of Dimes president at the time, asked his staff to help reformulate its mission. The organization then turned its focus to preventing birth defects and infant mortality and reducing the number of premature births. March of Dimes has helped to discover the genetic causes of many birth defects, to promote newborn screening and to educate and communicate best practices and their benefits for health pregnancy in expecting moms.

The March for Babies, formerly known as Walk America, began in 1970, is held in hundreds of communities across the USA each year, and since its founding has raised approximately $2 billion. According to www.marchforbabies.org, “when you walk in March for Babies, you give hope to the more than half a million babies born too soon each year. The money you raise supports programs in your community that help moms have healthy, full-term pregnancies. And it funds research to find answers to the problems that threaten our babies”. How could Stikii ignore such a wonderful cause that gives hope to so many women and families??

This year, over 7 million people will form teams with their family, friends and colleagues to walk for these babies. The event is fun, compelling and rewarding to all those who participate. The money raised funds important research and programs that help babies begin healthy lives.

We invite all of our fans and friends to walk with Stikii as we support the Greenblatt family and all those close to the cause this weekend. To those of you who have already signed up and/or made a donation, Stikii and the March of Dimes team thank you very much! If you have not had a chance, please take a moment and do so now, we promise it will be worthwhile! Just follow this link: http://www.marchforbabies.org/s_team_page.asp?seid=1725006

Here is some more info on the cause:

April 15, 2012

5/3 Field

406 Washington St.

Toledo, OH 43604

Walk Distance: 3 miles

Registration Time: 8:30 AM

Start Time: 10:00 AM

Chapter: Northwest Ohio Division

Phone: (419) 534-3600

The team will be meeting inside Fifth Third Field at 9:30am Sunday morning near section 118. Stikii, Cayden’s Crew and Max too thank you for your support! Check back for pictures of this event next week J