On Sunday, April 26th, hundreds from the Greater New Haven area will gather for March for Babies at Lighthouse Point Park to benefit the March of Dimes. Leading the festivities will be the event’s 2015 Ambassadors, Chris and Katy Blanchette of Branford, along with their children, Patrick, Kellen and Maeve. They will share their family’s neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) journeys, thank walkers for their commitment to the March of Dimes mission to give all babies a healthy start, and lead the walk with their team, “Kellen’s Heroes.” Since 2012, their March for Babies team has raised over $13,000. Patrick was born full-term in August of 2010 (at then) Saint Raphael’s Hospital before being transferred to Yale-New Haven Children’s Hospital (YNHCH) due to having three strokes. “It was a very emotional time, as we had waited for seven years to be blessed with a baby, and to have the doctors unsure of his prognosis was very scary,” said Katy. While full-term, Patrick’s lungs were compromised and he received surfactant to help mature his lungs. Babies with underdeveloped lungs may have respiratory distress syndrome (RDS) and struggle to breathe because their immature lungs do not produce enough surfactant, a protein that keeps small air sacs in the lungs from collapsing. March of Dimes grantees helped develop surfactant therapy, which was introduced in 1990. Since then, deaths from RDS have been reduced by half. He remained in the neonatal intensive care unit for two weeks before coming home, and today has cerebral palsy as a result of having three strokes before birth. “Now Patrick is nearing five years old and he loves trains and all things transportation. He has an amazing zest for life and a smile that can light up a room," said Katy. In May 2011, Chris and Katy were elated to be expecting again, when at just 27 weeks pregnant, their son Kellen was born to due to premature rupture of the membranes and a placental abruption. Again in the NICU at YNHCH, Kellen weighed just 2 lbs. 1 oz. Like Patrick, Kellen received surfactant to help mature his lungs and he ultimately spent 163 days in the NICU. Today, while a vibrant three year old, Kellen suffers many complications from his early birth including bronchopulmonary dysplasia (a chronic lung disease), feeding difficulties, and speech and developmental delays. The boys’ sister, Maeve, was born full-term in February 2014, but due to decreased fetal movement during delivery was kept under observation in the NICU at YNHCH for two days. “That was totally unexpected and brought back so many memories,” said Katy. “We were thankful her NICU stay was so short, as it was very emotional.” Each year in Connecticut nearly 40,000 babies in Connecticut are born. 1 in 10 babies are born too soon, and 1 in 7 infant deaths is attributed to a birth defect. The mission of the March of Dimes is to prevent birth defects, premature birth and infant mortality through research, education, advocacy and community programs. “Our children are all examples of the miracle of modern medicine and the demonstration of what the scientific research has been able to accomplish. We are not so naive to believe that our children would have had the same outcome even 10 years ago,” said Katy. “We are thankful for the research funded by the March of Dimes.”