Update: 2:06 p.m.: My colleague Dustin Dwyer was surfing the web today and came across this incredibly moving song about a young father and his son who died too soon.
Given what this web post was about today, I had to share. With lyrics like "his whole hand wrapped around my finger, he was premature / they said he need me, but I felt I really need him more," the song grabs your heart and doesn't let go.
Cheryl Haggard with her son Maddux after his death. Haggard later founded Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep, a nonprofit that has provides families of babies who are stillborn or are at risk of dying with free professional portraits.
JENNIFER GUERRA: I want to introduce you to a young mom, her name is Angela. She’s 21 years old. She lives with her son in a two bedroom, section eight apartment, just outside Detroit in Highland Park.
ANGELA: I have one kid and one on the way. Want me to say his name? His name is Darrion, he’s three years old.
JG: Darrion has a crazy amount of energy. He likes to bounce around his two-bedroom apartment like the springiest frog you’ve ever seen. He’s also a very big fan of toy cars. And soon, his mom tells me, Darrion is going to be a big brother.
In our final segment of State of Opportunity, Jennifer Guerra looks at what's being done today to help ensure that all children have an equal shot at celebrating their first birth - no matter where they live, what color their skin is, or how much money their parents have in the bank.
A Healthy Start approach, or how to get the black infant mortality rate down to zero
State of Opportunity reporter Jennifer Guerra tagged along with Jenny Hall on a home visit to see a client of hers who lives near Flint.
In part two of our State of Opportunity documentary on infant mortality and disparities, we ask the question: Why are black babies two and a half times more likely to die before they turn one than white babies?
Two of the leading causes of infant mortality are babies that are born too soon or too small, and a disproportionate amount of those babies are African American.
We talked previously about Chantania Smith and her struggle with losing a child.
Six months into her pregnancy, Smith’s doctors discovered she had a short cervix, which is a major cause of preterm birth and a leading indicator for infant mortality.
When she went into labor a month and a half later, the umbilical cord prolapsed and came out first, and Smith was rushed to the hospital for an emergency C-section.
On January 14, 2010, she gave birth to a little baby boy named Jerome – JJ for short.
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