I participated in an Influencer Activation on behalf of Influence Central for Kmart & March of Dimes. I received a promotional item to thank me for my participation.

March of Dimes is a non-profit organization that helps raise money to provide support for pregnant mothers and babies. Most people associate them with preemies because they put a lot of focus on prenatal care with hopes of preventing premature births, and they help many families with babies who are born premature. That isn’t all that they do, though.

I was born completely full term, just two days shy of my due date. In fact, I was BIG at 9 pounds and 8oz at birth. My mom’s pregnancy was completely incident free, so everyone was shocked when I had my first seizure at just 6 hours old. I was put through a series of testing and hooked up to a variety of monitors. The doctors realized that I was having breathing trouble (apnea) and I had subarachnoid hemorrhage – or a pool of blood in part of my brain. No force was used during my delivery, so they believe the bleed was simply a result of having so much pressure on my head while being born as a result of being so big.

Me as a baby – you can see my apnea monitor wires.

I had to stay in the hospital for about two weeks, but I was still having seizures and bouts of apnea so I needed to remain on an apnea monitor at home. The monthly rental cost for the apnea mintor was the exact amount that my parents were paying in rent at the time, and was more than they could afford. March of Dimes stepped in to pay the rental fee for my apnea monitor for several months until I stopped having the breathing problems. This saved my parents a few thousand dollars which was such a blessing at the time because they had so many other bills racking up as a result of my health care needs.

Kmart is the largest corporate sponsor for March of Dimes. They recently partnered up with Jillian Michaels to kick off the 2015 fundraiser campaign. The funds raised by Kmart will help support scientists to work together to discover the causes of premature birth and develop initiative treatments at five March of Dimes Prematurity Research Centers.

There will be over 700 March of Dimes walks this spring in communities across the country. Kmart has raised more than $125 million for March of Dimes over the past 31 years. These efforts have helped reduce the US preterm birth rate in each of the last 7 years, saving an estimated $12 billion in health care costs.

To help support March of Dimes, you can donate to the March of Dimes online or in store at Kmart. 100% of your donation will benefit March of Dimes. You can also purchase Kmart’s collectible puppy figurine for $5 and $1 of your purchase will be donated to the cause.

When you shop at Kmart using your Shop Your Way rewards card now through June 20th you’ll get a coupon good for earning  5% back on your purchase (in shop your way points) on your future order.

Visit the Kmart.com/MarchofDimes site for more information or to donate to the cause.

Win it: Two people will each get a March of Dimes t-shirt! Enter below. Giveaway is open to the US and ends 5/11/2015 at 11:59pm EST.

Entry Form

Contest entrants are only eligible to win once per sweepstakes, per household as part of a campaign sponsored by Influence Central.

Emily

Hi there! I am Emily Evert, the owner of Emily Reviews. I am 28 and live in a small town in Michigan with my boyfriend Ryan and our two pugs. I have a large family and I adore my nieces and nephews. I love reading memoirs, and learning about child development and psychology. I love watching The Game of Thrones, Teen Mom, Sister Wives and Veep. I like listening to Jason Isbell, John Prine, and other alt-country or Americana music. I created Emily Reviews as a creative outlet to share my life and the products that I love with others.

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