Paige Langhoff is DakCU’s office & membership coordinator, and this is her story. Doug and Beth Langhoff were happily expecting their first child, due in May of 1998. However, their lives took a very scary turn when Beth unexpectedly went into premature labor in January. She was rushed to Sanford Children’s Hospital in Fargo, where Paige was born on January 30. A true micropreemie, Paige weighed just 1 lb. 11 oz, and was a mere 13 ½ inches long. For comparison, a Barbie doll is about 11 inches.  She was so tiny and fragile that for the first weeks of her life, physical contact and any stimulation at all was strictly monitored. She was a tangle of wires and monitors, with nearly transparent skin, housed in an environmentally controlled incubator. Her hands were so small, she couldn’t wrap them around her father’s finger, and even preemie diapers were too big, so they just laid them underneath her bottom. She was so tiny, in fact, that her first bath was in a Cool Whip container. And clothes? Eventually, she did grow into preemie clothes that could be purchased at department stores, but her first outfits were doll clothes purchased from the toy section – a collection of the smallest Cabbage Patch baby doll ensembles.  Many premature babies, and especially micropreemies (those born before 26 weeks gestation and weighing less than 28 ounces), spend their lives with physical challenges. Often, they have health problems, such as chronic lung disease, and/or developmental issues, because their organs did not have enough time to fully develop. However, Paige beat the odds, and the care she received at Sanford enabled her not only to survive, but to grow and thrive. After eight weeks of intensive care, she was able to go home with her parents, and today, at age 25, she has no lasting effects from her difficult beginning, and has three younger siblings.  At the time she was born, Sanford Children’s Hospital had a survival rate for micropreemies of less than 17 percent. Today, those treated at the same hospital have an 80 percent survival rate, and the hospital is confident they can improve those odds even more by modernizing their micropreemie treatment care unit. This is where credit unions come in!
Sanford Children’s Hospital has offered North Dakota credit unions the opportunity to have an exclusive partnership and naming rights to a new micropreemie care unit at the Fargo CMN Hospital. This unit will be one of only a handful in the country, positioning Sanford Children’s as a national leader in micro-preemie care – with the support of area credit unions. Most importantly, it will give local families the best care possible, close to home, and a visible, tangible reminder of credit unions’ commitment to community. The new unit will have a specially trained team, staffed around the clock with nurses, lead physicians, respiratory therapists, and family support specialists. Located within the Sanford Children’s NICU, the dedicated unit will provide a soothing environment with minimal stimulus to mimic what a baby experiences in the womb. While many of our credit unions have already pledged their support to make this happen, we need more! Nearly everyone knows someone whose life has been impacted by a premature birth. Some stories have happy endings, and today, we are pleased to share this story of one whose life was literally saved at Sanford Children’s Hospital in Fargo. Thank you to the following credit unions that have pledged financial support for our North Dakota CU4Kids Micropreemie Care Unit. If you are interested in learning more about how your credit union can help, please contact Shawn Brummer or Lindsey Hefta. We have many fundraising ideas, and your pledge can be stretched over the span of several years, and can begin next year, or even later. Our hope is that every North Dakota credit union will make a financial commitment to support this campaign.
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