WKLH Miracle Marathon

As many of you already know, Patrick and I were asked to share Dylan's story on the radio a few weeks ago. WKLH has an annual fundraiser to raise money for Children's hospital. Patrick and I feel VERY fortunate to have this hospital so close and that they were who helped Dylan during his short life.  The nurses and doctors treated us like people, friends even. They allowed us to be active parents during a less than ideal situation. I personally looked forward to bath time, so I could kiss him all over and Patrick LOVED combing his hair after a good wash :) (just ask Brenda)

This was WKLH's 15th year doing the fundraiser and they set a goal of $1.5 million. They came VERY close and raised $1.3 million dollars for a fantastic hospital.  Here are a couple of pictures of the day. The first two are when Patrick and I were working the phones getting donations and the last was when we were being interviewed by Dave & Carole.

While we were waiting to get on air, we had a HUGE support system show up.  Doctors and staff of Children's hospital came to sit with us before we got on air, and stayed to give us hugs after. Dan and Katie stopped by with their newest addition (Roland) as well.  It just shows what a great hospital and support system Children's is.

It was a pleasure to do, and we look forward to helping in the years to come.

MOD success!

Our March of Dimes, March for Babies walk was a HUGE success! Devoted to Dylan raised over $31,000 for the cause. Here's a picture of team Milwaukee.  In total, we had Dylan's face (on t-shirts) in 27 different cities across the country!

Patrick and I are planning on joining a March of Dimes committee to help improve the family teams have a voice.  I felt that that had been lacking at our Milwaukee walk.  I think we should hear stories from the families walking, remind people why they are there and why they donated (as opposed to a Zumba dance, yes really, a Zumba dance)

Thank you again to everyone that joined us on that cool and rainy day, and to everyone that walked in their own city.  I hope that Dylan is able to see the movement that he has created.  

I am SO proud to be his mother. 

Much love to those of you that have donated to our team in honor of our sweet little man. Miss him every single day.

March Of Dimes Walk

Is quickly approaching!

We ordered team t-shirts with Dylan's sweet face on them and they are hopefully being delivered today! :)

I received an email alerting the team that we are still in the top 10 teams of 2012 across the country and still #1 in Wisconsin!!!

Dylan was our miracle, and he continues to be our inspiration. Because of him, we started a March of Dimes, March for babies team, Devoted to Dylan.

We found out early in the pregnancy, that our son would be facing many obstacles.  The doctors knew there would be surgeries, but we wouldn’t know the extent of Dylan’s challenges until he arrived. The doctors tried to prepare us as best they could, and even offered aborting my pregnancy. I told those doctors, that even if I only had minutes or days, I would be carrying my baby as long as he’d let me. He deserved that much. And in all honesty, I was in love when I first got my positive pregnancy test. Dylan L McGraw was born on August 14, 2011 via an emergency C-section. He let out two cries so that we knew he was there, and then the NICU team rushed him away to work on him. I was able to see a picture. I was unable to see my sweet boy until about 36 hours or so, because I couldn’t walk after surgery. Knowing my baby was sick and that I couldn’t go to him was gut-wrenching. The moment I was able to see him, I fell head over heels in love. 

Dylan showed us life and love in the absolute purest form. He knew no race, religion or of any matters/beliefs the rest of us allow to get in the way. He is the definition of forgiving and patient. Throughout countless blood draws, assessments, diagnoses, and eight surgical procedures, his little body and enormous spirit forgave, and loved unconditionally. If he was startled or scared he'd begin to cry for a moment just to let you know, and an instant later, would stop and forgive. Dylan is the strongest person I know, he fought and fought, but in the end, his little body just couldn’t. 

Dylan has taught not only his family these lessons, but also friends, and even the staff that worked on him at Children’s Hospital Of WI. We receive notes and letters from people telling us how much Dylan has inspired them or changed their lives. We hope these letters never stop. It is the greatest gift that they can possibly give us, knowing our son’s memory lives on and that he has touched so many people.

Please join our team, Devoted to Dylan, and help us honor him by raising awareness to infant prematurity, birth defects, and infant mortality. If you can’t walk with us, please donate to the cause. March of Dimes funds research to help prevent or treat birth defects, they also provide services at the hospitals for the families going through the scariest time of their lives. 

If you would like to walk with us, please visit our team page here: http://www.marchforbabies.org/team/t1935117

Most recently, I have been keeping myself busy with couponing :) (and thankfully my husband has been tolerating the piles of clipped coupons on the dining room table)
With the items I've been purchasing, I am making family NICU packs for the Children's hospital here in WI.  My husband and I know all too well what it feels like to spend 12+ hours at the hospital. We hope that these packs can bring some comfort to the mom's and dad's that are going through a very scary time in their lives.