Former 'Preemie' Raises Money to Help New Babies

Dec. 24, 2006 — -- The holiday season reminds 19-year-old Mckenzie Brodnick just how thankful she is to be alive.

She spent the first few weeks of her life in the neonatal intensive care unit at Georgetown University Hospital. She was born six weeks premature and not expected to live.

"To see these babies in an incubator and to think I was one of them? I can't picture it," Brodnick said.

A recent report shows one in eight American babies is born prematurely. And according to the March of Dimes, the number of "preemies" born this year topped an unprecedented half million.

It can happen to any mother, even without obvious risk factors. Caring for these babies is expensive, but Brodnick has found a way to give back -- by starting a charity that raises money for their care.

"When she lived at birth, I thought, 'This is a special kid,'" said Brodnick's mother, Maggie Brodnick.

It's hard for her mom to believe how small she was just hours after her birth. Her parents held their breath as they watched their tiny baby struggle.

"I'd tell her we love her very much," said Al Brodnick, her father. "She has a wonderful sister at home."

When Brodnick was brought to the NICU, she was given only a 10 percent chance of survival. Nineteen years later, those odds have dramatically improved to almost 100 percent.

Dr. Siva Subramanian is the chief of Georgetown's NICU and the doctor who saved Brodnick's life. He placed her on what was then an experimental and risky heart and lung machine.

Today that machine is hardly used because scientists have invented yet another generation of better and safer therapy.

"In terms of a baby's survival with what we had then compared to now -- it's day and night," Subramanian said.

But that state of the art equipment is expensive, which is why Brodnick started a charity for the NICU called Pennies for Preemies. Her first donation was a $1,000 inheritance check from her beloved grandmother.

"My bubbie, and I'm going to start crying, was the most wonderful human being in the world," Brodnick said.

Brodnick put collection jars in any shop that would let her, and over three years raised $30,000. But she got a huge boost when CVS agreed this summer to sponsor Pennies for Preemies. So far, the CVS boxes have brought in $20,000.

But perhaps even more important than the gift of money is the reassurance Brodnick brings to these families who are hoping for their own Christmas miracle. The healthy teenager is proof that not only can preemies survive, they can thrive.

"When you are born into the world fighting, you almost never stop," she said.