Aliya Brandt

I joined the March of dimes movement not only to create positive change for both moms and babies but most importantly to honor my son , Maiceo. Maiceo was born December 30th 2024 prematurely at 25wks and 2days weighing just 1lb 10oz and only 13.5in long. He had a very long hard fight and he never gave up on himself , he gave our family so much hope despite what professionals would say to us upon his life. Maiceo’s name means “gift of god” and that’s exactly what my son is. He spent 133 days in the Nicu and he came home on my very first Mother’s Day , we started off at Magee and within a few months we got transferred over to Children’s for him to get surgery on his PDA which is a hole in his heart and then we finished off our Nicu stay back at Magee. Both hospitals were amazing but we truly loved our nurses at Magee who quickly turned into our “hospital family”. Maiceo is my first and only child , I never expected to have a preemie baby and i definitely was nowhere near prepared physically mentally or emotionally. On days I felt like we were so close to the end my son always showed me he wasn’t done fighting. He is now 14 months old corrected to 10 months and on April 12th he will be corrected to 1 years old. If you’ve experienced a premature birth or know someone that has please join us in the march of dimes this year ! Thank you all.