The inspiration for this race is our daughter Finley. At our 20 week ultrasound appointment Wednesday March 31st 2010
(ironically CDH Awareness Day), my husband and I were thrilled to get the news we were having our second girl. That
news was quickly overshadowed by the fact that our baby had a serious complication. We were told that our baby had a
left-sided congenital diaphragmatic hernia (this happens in one in about every 2,500 births) which means the diaphragm
didn't close entirely when it was supposed to and some of the lower organs (in our case; stomach, intestines, and spleen)
are up where they shouldn't be. As a result, the lungs wouldn't grow to normal size and our baby was at risk for a
laundry list of complications that ended with the statement that she had about a 40-50% chance of survival. Finley was
in the fortunate 50% that survive. It took 19 days to stabilize her for repair surgery and after another 30 days more
in the NICU, she was finally able to come home.Because this birth defect is rare and not commonly known, it does not have the funding that other more widely known birth defects attract. All money raised by this race will go toward to the Ladybug CDH Foundation which will give funds to both on-going research and to assist families with a child with CDH in the hospital. Hospital expenses average from $500,000 - $1M+ which means families can be bankrupted by CDH. Some families travel thousands of miles to deliver at a hospital such as Emanuel which is equipped to care for a CDH baby. This means incurring additional expenses of travel, housing, and food. Then, imagine having those expenses and also having to cover a funeral? Or for those fortunate children who do come home, costs include at-home nursing, oxygen support, feeding tubes, and numerous medicines. The Ladybug Run will help these families.
Why Is This Race Called Ladybug Run?
At the Randall Emanuel Children's Hospital the section of the NICU where the sickest babies who need ECMO (extracorporeal membrane oxygenation) are kept is called Ladybug. The isolette in Ladybug 3 is where Finley spent her first 19 days of life.
