As a KCSP radio producer, Brian Williams is very public with his efforts to raise money for the March of Dimes’ March for Babies on Sunday.
He has recorded a spot about the charity’s walk that plays frequently on 610 Sports, and he has included event information on his blog on the station’s Web site.
But on Thursday, Williams and his wife, Nicci, were providing support to families of premature babies in a very private way — helping them create scrapbook pages.
Thousands of area parents have supported the March of Dimes to say thanks for help the nonprofit gave them and their premature babies, but what makes the Williamses unusual is how quickly they began giving back: three weeks after their daughter was discharged from St. Luke’s Hospital.
The Williamses’ daughter, Savanna, was born July 17, three months early. She stayed at St. Luke’s for 72 days.
“It just kind of happened,” Nicci Williams said of how quickly the family returned to the hospital to help others through a March of Dimes family support program. “It was nothing that we planned.”
Brian Williams said the volunteering seemed natural, especially because he and his wife, like many parents, grew very close to the staff of the neonatal intensive care unit, or NICU.
“This is home,” Brian Williams said Thursday. “This is where she was born.”
Often the support the Williamses give to parents comes through bringing Savanna, as they did on Thursday.
“It’s reassuring,” said Amanda Bogle, mother of triplets Toby, Sara and Tess, who were born at 24 weeks and one day, on Dec. 23.
“It’s reassuring that my babies and I will go home.”
Brian Williams said it’s important that parents know that being in NICU “doesn’t always mean everything goes wrong.”
NICU family support specialist Laura Miller said the Williamses have a special ability to look beyond their own circumstances and reach out.
“When they are there, they ask the other parents ‘How are you doing today, how is your baby doing?’ ” Miller said.
“They don’t ever say, ‘We know what you are going through.’ They realize that the parents have unique experiences.”
On Thursday, eight or so parents and grandparents gathered around a table in a break room just outside the NICU.
Again and again, photographs just taken of the babies would pop out of the digital printer, and quickly be swept up by a proud mom, dad or grandma and shared with everyone — especially with the Williamses, who brought their pages from months ago to pass around.
“Hearing their stories, telling my story, it was just amazing,” Bogle said. “I realize I am not the only one going through it.”
Registration is at 8 a.m., and the march begins at 10 a.m. For more information, go to www.marchofdimes.com.
Don’t forget …
The Jayrock Bash benefit concert at 7 p.m. Friday at the Mission Theatre, 5909 Johnson Drive, Mission. Tickets are $12 in advance (on sale at www.themissiontheatre.com) or $15 at the door. The headliner is the New Amsterdams. The concert benefits JayDoc, the University of Kansas School of Medicine’s free clinic.
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