The American Preemie Foundation was founded by me, Karen and my husband, Keith.  We were affected by the life of a preemie and saw the struggles his parents went through.  My cousin and her husband recently had a preemie and they struggled day and night to survive emotionally and financially. 

Their baby, Michael, was born at 29 weeks and was kept in the hospital for over two months.  My cousin was a stay at home mom taking care of their 5 year old, and her husband worked for a small, independently owned company.  Well, that company thought he was taking too much time off of work to take care of his family, so they fired him.  I couldn’t believe it.  On the bright side, we are a close family so we all stepped in to support them and everything turned out okay.
Michael was released from the hospital, a happy, healthy baby.  His dad was able to find a new job, and his mom continues to stay home taking care of both kids.

This whole ordeal got me thinking that if this situation happened to us, it could happen to anyone.  What if the parents of the preemie don’t have family and friends that are able to support them?  What if the parents lose their job, or don’t have insurance?  What if the parents must take their baby to a specialist far from home – who will take care of the travel expenses?  All of these thoughts crossed my mind, and I knew I needed to do something about it.  That’s why we created American Preemie Foundation.  We don’t want another family to worry about finances when a sweet, little life is on the line.

If everyone can donate a little, it will add up and make a huge difference in someone’s life.