NEC SocietyCategory: NEC family stories
9 Things You Need to Know About Necrotizing Enterocolitis
Written by Jennifer Canvasser, founder and director of the NEC Society When my son Micah was six weeks old, I thought he had overcome his fiercest battles that are common to babies born at 27 weeks gestation. He had doubled his birth…
Read MoreNICUs Should Give Books to Their Babies
Written by Jennifer Canvasser, founder and executive director of the NEC Society When my twins were born three months prematurely, I struggled with intense feelings of maternal guilt and incompetence. Throughout their time in the NICU, my twins were often…
Read MoreCongenital Heart Defect Awareness Week
Congenital Heart Defect (CHD) Awareness Week is February 7th – 14th and we are so grateful to the families who have shared their heart babies with us. While necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) most often affects preemies, babies born at term sometimes…
Read MoreFinding Purpose: the Zuri Nzilani Foundation
Written by Ashley Wayua, Mother of Zuri and Founder of the Zuri Nzilani Foundation When my husband Ian and I learned that I was pregnant, we were excited and looked forward to becoming parents. My pregnancy was bliss until the…
Read MoreBlack Breastfeeding Week 2020
Black Breastfeeding Week is held annually from August 25 – 31, during the last week of Breastfeeding Awareness Month. Necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) disproportionately affects Black infants and the best way to help prevent NEC is with mother’s milk. Yet, Black…
Read MoreNEC Society Launches Research Project on Long-Term Outcomes of NEC
We are grateful to our patient-family community who helped to build and launch this research project, and who took the time to respond by sharing their family’s personal experience with NEC. This project seeks to understand how NEC affects children,…
Read MoreWorld Breastfeeding Week 2020
Providing premature and medically fragile infants with human milk offers the most protection against necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC). That’s why the NEC Society joins the global community in recognizing and celebrating World Breastfeeding Week (WBW) each year. WBW takes place on…
Read MoreFrom a NICU Mother to a NICU Nurse
Written by Marlayna McBride, RN, mother of Baby Madilyn Our daughter Madilyn was born via emergency cesarean thirteen weeks prematurely. She was delivered at a small community hospital, and was immediately transported to a level III NICU. My husband and…
Read MoreHow the Pandemic Aggravates NICU Life
Written by Awanti Sambarey, PhD, the mother of Baby Indira. “Though she be but little, she is fierce” – William Shakespeare Nothing prepares you to have a preterm baby. My pregnancy was wonderful, and I did everything “right” – from…
Read MoreLiving With NEC: A Survivor’s Experience
Lakevia is grateful to have survived this terrifying disease but continues to live with its consequences- she shares her story.
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