March of Dimes-70 Years and still going strong

January 3 marks the 70th anniversary of The March of Dimes organization,which initially was called the "National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis" and was formed to fight polio,also known as poliomyelitis and crippled thousands before vaccines were developed.The organization ran radio ads asking everyone to donate a dime to fight polio.They helped fund the scientific work that led to the creation of vaccines by Jonas Salk and Albert Sabin,and in 1955,children throughout the US started receiving the immunizations and they were proven to be 80-90% effective in preventing the disease.Around 1958,with polio diagnoses decreasing rapidly thanks to the new vaccines,The March of Dimes shifted their focus to preventing premature births,birth defects and infant mortality.To date they have raised more than 1.7 billion toward their mission and as of 2007,their celebrity spokesman is Tv personality Tom Bergeron(Dancing with the stars,Americas Funniest Home Videos).

They have taken alot of heat from animal rights groups such as PETA,for funding medical research involving the use of animals,but along the way they have saved countless little lives.Thanks to their research,we know know that something as simple as nutritional deficiencies can cause birth defects and as a result,women are starting to get ample amounts of folic acid BEFORE becoming pregnant,which decreases the risk of neural tube defects like spina bifida.I have a special place in my heart for this organization for two reasons.First of all,I lost an uncle to post-polio syndrome when I was 11 years old.He was one of the kindest men I ever knew and he survived polio as a child only to suffer complications later in life from the disease which eventually killed him before he reached 40.Secondly,I had a high risk pregnancy with my daughter,and it was next to impossible for the doctors to pinpoint a due date,so my daughter was taken a month early to avoid complications with my diabetes.She weighed well over 7 lbs but her heart rate was erratic and she spent her first few days in NICU-and March of Dimes was instrumental in setting up NICU units in maternity wards to treat sick newborns.Its easy to say,"oh they test on animals" but how many lives have they saved over the years?Just twenty years ago,a baby born at 22-24 weeks had no chance at all to survive on its own.Today,not only are they preventing such early births but their research has benefitted those who are born so early and 22 weekers actually can make it with medical intervention and lots of prayer.

So,if you are looking for a cause to donate to that really has a positive impact on children,lets all make sure that the March of Dimes is around for another 70 years!