Jake, Josh & March for Babies (2013)

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Dear Jake & Josh fans,

Flipping through a parenting magazine one afternoon, Lori noticed an advertisement for something called WalkAmerica, a fundraiser benefiting the fight against prematurity, led by the March of Dimes.

Huh? Didn't the March of Dimes wipe out polio? What did they have to do with helping our little miracle men?

At the time, J&J were cruising toward their 3rd birthday. They were eating on their own four times a day, yet also needed to have their bellies filled by a tube-feeding as they slept. That night-time feeding represented their final hurdle on the obstacle course established by their ridiculously early birth. And, at that point, clearing it was just a matter of when. Realizing we were nearing the finish line on their precarious start to life, we were already on the lookout for the organization serving as the guardian angel over our boys and other early arrivers. Steered by this ad, we learned it really was the March of Dimes.

So on March 10, 2005, we sent our first email update in nearly a year. Waaay down in a long email, we mentioned that we'd be doing the walk and asked for donations. Within minutes, they started coming in. We ended up being honored as the top "Family Team," a term we'd never even heard. Soon we were chairing the Family Teams committee, then serving as the local Ambassador Family. Countless more incredible experiences followed, each letting us share our story and emphasize how the March of Dimes helped us have such a happy ending ... and probably helped you, too, regardless of whether you ever saw the inside of a NICU.

WalkAmerica has been cleverly rechristened March for Babies, and attendance has spiked from 10,000 to many multiples of that. Family Teams have become so important that the local office now employs a "Family Teams Specialist." In fact, that specialist spurred this trip down memory lane.

In a recent email, she noted that this is the 10th anniversary of Family Teams, and plans are under way “to honor veteran teams like yours." Yep, that’s right. Our boys are veterans. And you’re probably a veteran of our veteran team, as so many folks on our distribution list have been around since the very first email (May 31, 2002) or elsewhere early in the voyage.

That also means you probably know the next two steps in this email are the individual updates on the boys, and our request for donations to this year's Aron Family Team.

First, the updates.

Medically, the big news is that Josh has a paralyzed vocal cord. It's actually small news because that happened when he was only a few days old; we just didn't learn it until a few months ago. (That – not excessive scar tissue – is why his voice is so low, and always will be.) Otherwise, the boys are as healthy as anyone their age, just bearing a few more battle scars on their torso.

Now the fun stuff, like Josh trading piano for flute and Jake becoming a Kid Reporter for SI Kids magazine. (He and Jaime will be covering the Final Four together; can you guess who is more excited?) Big brother Zac is a high school freshman who will be getting his driver's license any day. He's quite the versatile player for his JV baseball team and is loving his first year in BBYO.

While J&J are hoops junkies, and our entire family pitched in for this must-see basketball trick-shot video, we are primarily a baseball-driven household. The boys' 11th birthday was spent sleeping on the outfield grass at Rangers Ballpark, and a summer road trip birthed the new tradition of throwing the same baseball once in each state we visited (and there were nine).

As for our Family Team, this will be our second year joining our friends at Medical City Hospital, where Jake and Josh spent their first seven months. As always, we'd be honored for you to join us, either in spirit with a donation or in person for the trip around White Rock Lake the morning of April 12.

Over the last nine years, we've raised about $47,000. Crossing the $50,000 mark would be awfully cool. But this isn't about us. It's about other families - perhaps yours - having healthy babies. As we've said before, whether you have a baby, want a baby or were a baby, this cause touches you. We feel a debt of gratitude to the March of Dimes that we can never fully repay … but we're never going to stop trying, either.

Love,

Lori, Jaime, Zac, Jake, Josh (and YoYo)

Braces. Bar mitzvah. Baseball. Basketball. And babies -- as in, March for Babies.

Hello, Jake & Josh fans, and welcome to our 2016 update email. If it seems like these keep coming out later and later in the year, well, that's because they are. The older the boys get, the busier we get.

Since last year's March for Babies, we've had a lot of notable moments, many of them made more notable by the boys' extreme prematurity.

The bar mitzvah was the biggie. This rite of passage is always emotional, but -- based on comments we heard -- this one really plucked the ol' heart strings. We were especially happy to share this night with many of the caregivers who helped make the joyous occasion possible.

The boys' past came back in an uglier way in January. Four days after Josh had his tonsils and adenoids removed at Medical City, we found ourselves back there, this time in the ER because he was suffering excruciating belly pain. It turned out to be caused by scar tissue from an operation he had during his preemie stay at Medical City. It was completely unrelated to the removal of the tonsils and adenoids, yet was such a bizarre coincidence that his ENT surgeon came in on a Saturday afternoon just to see for himself. Weirder still, Josh spent the next few days in the same room where Jake recovered from the same emergency surgery 18 months before. (He could've been given any of 76 rooms on that floor.)

So there you have it, one really good reminder of their crazy arrival and one that was pretty painful. They don't cancel each other out as much as remind us of the ups and downs that everyone faces in life. As we've said for years, they're normal kids now … well, sort of.

They remain medical miracles and we remain devoted to the March of Dimes for its role in this success story. We look forward to showing our loyalty at the March for Babies walk this Saturday. We'd love for you to join us on the walk and we'd appreciate if you join our team in spirit through a donation to this wonderful organization. Click here for our fundraising page.

Love,

Lori, Jaime, Zac, Jake & Josh

Dear Jake & Josh fans,

Here we are again, a few weeks from March for Babies … and, a few weeks later, our favorite March of Dimes success stories will turn 16 and get their drivers licenses.

Pretty cool, eh?

Since everyone on our distribution list is familiar with Jake & Josh's odds-busting story, we won't go into the details again. But there are a few things worth pointing out.

Every year, this note gives us a chance to reflect on Jake & Josh's odds-busting story. While we never take it for granted, it does get lost in the daily shuffle of physics homework, baseball practice and whose turn it is to take out the trash.

There's another, larger story worth reflecting on, too: The progress in helping make sure every baby has a healthy start.

Science and medical technology were advanced enough in 2002 that two kids born 17 weeks too soon, each weighing just 18 ounces, could survive and thrive. Surely things are way better now.

The leap is true. And this story released last week on Wired.com underscores both how far neonatology has come and how far it has to go.

The tale is of twins who faced somewhat similar circumstances to J&J. One made it, one didn't. A few lines that hit especially close to home:

• "The (parents) simply hoped to reach what neonatologists call the threshold of viability: the point at which medical science has the ability to keep a premature baby alive outside the womb. … Advances in drugs, technology, and methods of care have pushed that line earlier and earlier, and today there are preemies growing up, healthy and whole, whose survival would have been unimaginable a generation ago. These days, the line between birth and death generally lies somewhere between 22 and 25 weeks’ gestation. [J&J were 23-weekers.]" 
• "Ten or 15 years ago, many hospitals had firm rules: They would not agree to resuscitate babies born at or before 23 weeks, say, and they would not recommend the practice before 25 weeks." 
• "(Their doctor) told them that, at 22 weeks, the twins would have less than a 5 percent chance of survival. At 23 weeks, they would have a better chance at life, but high odds of living with severe neurological complications." 

The point is, while things are getting better, there's still room for improvement. That's why we remain loyal to the March of Dimes and its signature fundraiser, March for Babies.

This year's event is Saturday, April 21, starting at the grassy area that used to be home to Reunion Arena. We'd love for you to join us in person or in spirit through a donation to our Aron Family Team. We're proud to have raised more than $50,000 since 2005 and hope to keep bumping that total even higher.

Here’s the link to our fundraising page, which is also a great place to sign up if you choose to lace ‘em up and make the 3.1-mile trek with us.

Love,

Lori, Jaime, Zac, Jake & Josh

(Here’s a shot from last year’s event. An updated family photo is on our fundraising page … another reason to visit there!)