Eron Wong
Here in Hawaii, we have many charitable walks and runs to choose to support; this year, we invite you to walk with the March of Dimes to save lives. Nearly 500,000 babies are born prematurely or with birth defects annually in the US, many of whom do not survive. We know because three of those premature babies in late 2017 were ours, and two of them did not survive.
It's a shock to learn you're expecting triplets. Just when we were finding happiness with minivan shopping and looking for a larger apartment, we were devastated. We contributed to that 500,000 number: our identical twin girls, Ella and Emma were born prematurely and passed away too soon, despite the tremendous care of the doctors and nurses. Furthermore, all babies in utero are typically expected to be born at the same time to face long odds, but miraculously, baby boy Eron, stayed in utero and was born a little later at 31 weeks. After a heart-wrenching two month period in the NICU, and an anxious period afterward at home, Eron is now a healthy 13-month old.
The doctors and nurses worked exceptionally hard to save Eron's life and they were helped in part by the March of Dimes - who also saved our lives as parents through their research, education, and parent support programs. We hope then that you would join us in walking this year with the March of Dimes to help future babies survive and future parents survive the journey.