In early 1998, Lydia was given great news – she was pregnant with twins. Unfortunately with 14 weeks to go in her pregnancy, she began showing signs of premature labor. Her physician sent her to St. John Hospital and Medical Center where she spent 3 weeks with medical teams, hoping to stop premature labor. If her twins were born at that point, they would have had a 20% survival rate.

On July 24, 1998 – three months early – Amanda and Mya Maola were born at 1.5 pounds each. They could not breathe on their own and each spent 8 weeks on ventilators. Amanda underwent surgery at 4 days old and has been in physical therapy since she was nine months old due to cerebral palsy – a condition many premature babies have. After birth, Mya relied on medication for various things and had spinal taps performed for infections she acquired. Both girls are still closely monitored for complications from their premature birth.

Lydia is grateful to both St. John Health and the March of Dimes. St. John Health for supporting her and her family and the March of Dimes for their commitment to saving babies lives. In 2003, the
March of Dimes launched a five-year, $75 million national campaign to educate women to the signs and symptoms of premature labor, raise funds to conduct needed research and reduce the rate of premature birth by 15 percent.

Lydia and the rest of the St. John Health team will participate in WalkAmerica in honor of the Maola twins. Proceeds raised by WalkAmerica help the March of Dimes save babies through programs of research, community service, advocacy and education.

WalkAmerica is an eight-mile walk that will begin at 9am in the plaza area of Metro Beach Metro Park in Harrison Township on Sunday, April 25, 2004. Participants in this event will join thousands of Michigan residents already supporting the fight to save babies.

National WalkAmerica sponsors are Cigna, Discovery Health Channel, Famous Footwear and Kmart. Comcast is a statewide sponsor of WalkAmerica in Michigan. Local sponsors include WJR, WDVD, WDRQ, Pepsi and The Detroit Free Press. Other confirmed sponsors include Fifth Third Bank, St. John Health and Philip F. Greco Title Company.

The statewide honorary chair for Michigan’s WalkAmerica is UAW President Ron Gettlefinger. Honorary chair for the Metro Beach location is Macomb County Sheriff Mark A. Hackel.

Those interested in participating in WalkAmerica and joining thousands of Michigan residents to save babies can register by calling 1-800-BIG-WALK or visiting www.walkamerica.org.

The March of Dimes is a national voluntary health agency whose mission is to improve the health of babies by preventing birth defects and infant mortality. Founded in 1938, the March of Dimes funds programs of research, community services, education and advocacy to save babies. More information is available on the March of Dimes websites at www.marchofdimes.com and www.nacersano.org.