NEC SocietyCategory: NEC family stories
Finding 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.
Read MoreWe Lost Our Daughter to NEC During the COVID-19 Crisis
Written by Emilia’s mother, Felicia Sears. Our daughter, Emilia Quinn Sears, was born prematurely on March 15, 2020. As this was the beginning of America’s response to the coronavirus pandemic, our family’s experience was unlike anything we could have imagined….
Read MoreA Story of Hope
Written by Dr. Ana Ruzic Do, a pediatric surgeon at the University of Kentucky For anyone who cared for Connor and his family during his 6-month NICU stay, he is the very definition of hope. Prior to meeting Connor and…
Read MoreWhat Is It like to Be Born Too Soon?
Written by Jennifer Canvasser, MSWFounder and Director of the NEC Society Despite me being healthy and doing everything “right,” my twins were born at 27 weeks gestation, about 90 days before their due date. I didn’t even make it into…
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