Tampa Bloggers and Friends Walk for Maddie

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On April 25th, I will join local Tampa area bloggers and friends of the Spohrs to walk in the memory of their daughter Maddie. Maddie passed away unexpectedly on April 7th after a miraculous life with her family.

If you’ve been reading along in these parts recently, you’ll know that Maddie’s passing this week has moved me deeply. Her death rang through the entire parent blogging community, in fact. Every parent who knew her story and then heard about her passing seemed to stop, mourn and then react. At this point, over $25,000 has been raised in Maddie’s honor for the March of Dimes. And currently, a fund is being put together to help sponsor the funeral expenses which are expected to cost over $7,000. (Donations for funeral expenses can be sent to a paypal account at formaddie@hotmomreviews.com)

Money raised for the March of Dimes will help:

• support all-important research offering preventions and solutions for babies born too soon or with birth defects

• educate women on things they can do to increase their chances of having a healthy baby

• provide comfort and information to families with a newborn in intensive care

• push for newborn screening and health insurance for all pregnant women and children

If you would like to learn more about Maddie, I would encourage you to visit the March for Maddie website. And please view the slide show below. Thanks to the March of Dimes, Maddie was a bright and shining light in her parents’ lives for 17 months. What a very special gift she was.

Finally, please consider passing on my post to others (tweeting, stumbling, sharing on facebook, however you feel comfortable spreading the word) and encourage your friends to sponsor our walk for Maddie on April 25th. Every little bit helps. Imagine if every person who viewed this post donated even just one dollar? What a fabulous start to this walk we would have.

Thanks so much for your consideration. And here’s Maddie…