Racing for Hope

Racing for Hope

"The next moment of recall came in our 20th week of pregnancy during what was supposed to be a routine check up to finally confirm that I was going to have two Daddy’s girls. The ultra sound technician didn’t say much and paged the doctor to come in immediately. The doctor came in and there were whispers. Next we were being sat down and told that we were being affected by TTTS (Twin-to-Twin Transfusion Syndrome). TTTS is a disease of the placenta that causes one twin to receive all the nutrition and blood and the other none or very little. The diagnosis was confirmed by the ultrasound that showed one of our babies with too much fluid and the other with none. She was literally “shrink wrapped” to the placental wall without any fluid to move around in. All our doctor could tell us was he had only gone through this once before and the outcome was not favorable. I remember him telling us that we just need to get them further along alive so we can deliver them and give them a chance to live. Our care was now being transferred to a high risk specialist."

This is only part of the story of one of the founders of the Fetal Health Foundation, Lonnie Somers. Their story has a happy ending. However, they are not the only parents who hears receive news of a fetal syndrome diagnosis. No parent wants to hear that their baby is at risk. As Lonnie described above they were going in for a routine check up to hear that their twins were doing fine and instead left with something a little different.

Because of Lonnie and Michelle's (Lonnie's wife) love for their twins they help found the Fetal Health Foundation to help other parents around the world. The mission of the Fetal Health Foundation is to:

Support families receiving a fetal syndrome diagnosis, fund life-saving research, increase syndrome awareness, and share leading medical information on fetal syndromes.

To honor the mission of the Fetal Health Foundation and to raise funds and awareness I will be dedicating my 2018 race session to the Foundation and would like to invite you to come along with me on the journey. I will be documenting my training throughout the season sharing the highs and the lows. And hopefully there will be a few other stories and events to share along the way. In addition to following along please consider supporting the mission of the Foundation with a donation. This will be Fundraising Link throughout the year. Together we all can work towards a world where every parent will be able to take home their healthy baby!

I encourage you to visit the  Fetal Health Foundation website to learn more about the wonderful work that the foundation does in the community.

So it begins....