Lily, Brooke, Joe and Charlie DiGiuseppe today. Both Lily and Charlie spent nearly 100 days in the NICU, but are happy, healthy and energetic preschoolers now.
Joe and Brooke DiGiuseppe hold Annaleigh, one of triplets born 15 weeks premature in 2009. Annaleigh died eight weeks after birth.
Pancake breakfast to support Love, Annaleigh set for July 20.
The arrival of a new child should be a joyous event, but lifelong Hamilton residents Brooke and Joe DiGiuseppe count the day their triplets were born as one of the most terrifying experiences of their lives.
Four years ago—on June 27, 2009—Charlie, Lily and Annaleigh DiGiuseppe arrived 15 weeks premature. Each child was 13 inches long and weighed less than two pounds.
“I remember a nurse putting Lily’s tiny foot in my hand,” Brooke DiGiuseppe said. “They were by far the smallest babies I had ever seen, each not much larger than a can of soda.”
In the beginning, all three children would have episodes where they would stop breathing or had sudden drops in heart rate. They required a ventilator to help them breathe, and feeding tubes so they could eat, DiGiuseppe said. They were treated for unclosed vessels in their hearts, and Charlie developed a case of MRSA, a type of staph infection that affects the skin and blood.
Annaleigh was the strongest of the bunch. At 2-weeks old, she underwent surgery to remove an obstruction in her bowel, and survived it fine. She was the first of the triplets to breathe on her own.
But, on Aug. 21, 2009, Annaleigh was diagnosed with necrotizing enterocolitis, a gastrointestinal disease primarily seen in premature infants. The illness causes portions of the bowel tissue to die, and is one of the most common causes of death in premature infants.
A day after the diagnosis, Annaleigh died in her mother’s arms. She was 8 weeks old, and had never left the hospital.
The DiGiuseppes’ experience is not uncommon. Complications from premature births are the leading cause of neonatal death, according to the March of Dimes. But the family, inspired by Annaleigh’s short life, has set out to change that.
The DiGiuseppes created an organization called Love, Annaleigh last year to keep the memory of their daughter alive and to support Saint Peter’s University Hospital in New Brunswick. The triplets were born at the hospital in 2009, and spent months in Neonatal Intensive Care Unit there. (After nearly 100 days in the NICU, Charlie and Lily left the hospital and went home. DiGiuseppe said they are happy, healthy, energetic preschoolers today.)
On Saturday, July 20, there will be a Love, Annaleigh fundraiser pancake breakfast at Applebees on Route 33 from 8-10 a.m. Tickets are $7 per person, and include unlimited pancakes, sausage and beverages. There will be entertainment and prizes, as well. The DiGiuseppes hope to raise around $2,000 at the event. The proceeds will go to the hospital.
There will also be a supply drive this summer, a follow-up to the innaugural Love, Annaleigh event. The drive will focus on collecting supplies for the St. Peter’s NICU and toys for the hospital’s pediatric intensive care unit.
Last year, the DiGiuseppes created a wish list of items the hospital needed on Amazon.com, and people were able to purchase the items and have them sent to the family. On Aug. 22, 2012, the DiGiuseppes observed the anniversary of Annaleigh’s death by bringing the items to the hospital.
There will be a wish list again this year, which was to be released on the organization’s website, loveannaleigh.org.
For more information or to purchase tickets for the pancake breakfast, go online to loveannaleigh.org or email info@loveannaleigh.org.
—Rob Anthes
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