National, local March of Dimes ambassadors appear in Boardman

BOARDMAN — “I love being the 2010 national ambassador for the March of Dimes because I want to fight for preemies,” said 7-year-old Joshua Hoffman.

“I don’t want any more babies born like me. Thanks to the March of Dimes, I’m alive,” Joshua said today at the Mahoning Valley March of Dimes Leadership Luncheon at Antone's Banquet Centre here.

Preemies are babies born before full-term pregnancy, which is around 40 weeks.

Joshua, of Weston, Fla., was born at 23 weeks and weighed 1 pound 11 ounces. He spent more than three months in a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), and his parents, Melanie and Lee Hoffman, were told he might never walk, talk, see or hear.

Joshua has problems associated with his premature birth. He is blind in his right eye. He was accompanied by his mother and grandmother, Joyce Bloom of Cleveland, and his younger brother, Alex, 4.

Joshua and Sara Stankich Reichard of Youngstown also credit March of Dimes research for helping to save the lives of their daughters, Maria and Olivia, who are Mahoning Valley 2010 MOD ambassadors.

For the complete story, see Wednesday's Vindicator and Vindy.com