DALLAS TWP. — Harris Kwon may have only lived 99 days, but in his lifetime, the premature-born infant inspired a lot of people, according to his father, Young Kwon.
“He came out a hero,” Young said as he reached out to hold the hands of his wife, Alexis, while sitting in their kitchen. “Harris came out to save my wife’s life.”
Harris also connected his parents with the March of Dimes, which gave the Dallas Township couple a new purpose to help raise awareness about the nonprofit organization and a pregnancy disorder called HELLP Syndrome.
After a 28-week and three-day pregnancy, Alexis delivered her son March 28, 2016 during an emergency C-section procedure due to complications caused by a rare condition known as HELLP Syndrome.
HELLP Syndrome
HELLP Syndrome affects an expectant mother’s ability to break down red blood cells, which carry oxygen through the body; elevate liver enzymes, which causes problems with the organ’s functions; and lower platelet counts that affect blood clotting.
“I had no complications until HELLP Syndrome developed,” she said. “Through my whole pregnancy, I never heard of — you hear about eclampsia, you hear of gestational diabetes, but you never hear of HELLP Syndrome.”
HELLP Syndrome can develop in two out of 1,000 pregnancies, according to the March of Dimes website.
“Her liver was shutting down due to HELLP syndrome,” Young said. “They had to take him out to save her life.”
Alexis was life-flighted to Lehigh Valley Health Network in Salisbury Township to the center’s neonatal intensive care unit.
At the time, Young, a corporate trainer with Pride Mobility, was an hour away.
“Everyone was caught off-guard that Harris was born so early,” Alexis said. “The only way we could tell each other what was going on was to leverage our Facebook pages and Instagram.”
Harris had other plans.
He was not waiting for his parents to be reunited.
March of Dimes
Then, Young and Alexis learned first-hand the value of the March of Dimes.
“They taught us how to be parents to our premature son,” Alexis said in a voice thick with emotion. “We are Harris’ parents. It is not we were Harris’ parents.”
“Because of the March of Dimes, we were able to have 99 days with our son,” Young said. “If you took all of their (medical) advancements away, we probably would have lost him on the first day.”
One of the nurses at the NICU is a March of Dimes representative, Alexis said. The medical facility held March of Dimes classes for the parents in the NICU, she said.
Classes involved everything from how to bond with your child, how to feed your child for the first time and how to change a diaper, Alexis said.
“Harris weighed two pounds and three ounces. He was a tiny little guy,” she said. “It is difficult to change an eight-pound baby’s diaper for the first time, much less changing a diaper on a two-pound baby.”
Alexis remembered the March of Dimes gave her and Young Mother’s Day and Father’s Day gifts when they went to visit Harris.
“Here you are looking at your child through plexiglas, but the March of Dimes humanized it,” she said. “After Harris had passed, the March of Dimes was there for us.”
Harris died July 5, 2016.
“They have a community and an online community to connect with other families.”
The couple found tremendous support through the staff a the NICU, as well.
Young and Alexis said one doctor advised the couple to simply get out of bed the day after Harris’ death.
“We kept doing that,” she said. “We get out of bed every day.”
Inspired
Harris’ short life inspired his parents to become active with th March of Dimes, which is helping the couple manage their grief.
“So much of our journey is talking about what we went through,” Alexis said.
Alexis and Young decided to participate in the March of Dimes March for Babies event held April 30 in Lehigh Valley.
Team Harris started small, but by event-day had grown to 88 members consisting of family, friends and new connections from the NICU.
Alexis said the group did a variety of fundraising events, including a bake sale at Boscov’s in Wilkes-Barre.
The couple also started a Dimes for Dollars challenge, which involved collecting dimes in a two-liter, empty soda bottle.
Alexis said the bottle challenge was inspired by old stories about how people would save their dimes to donate to the March of Dimes.
The idea of filling up a plastic bottle with dimes caught on.
St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Dallas Township set up a bottle for its congregation.
“An anonymous donor matched the contribution, dime for dime,” she said.
The Dimes for Dollars challenged raised $1,569 by the April 30 event, Alexis said.
When Young and Alexis heard the final donation tally for Team Harris, they were shocked.
Team Harris raised over $21,000, Alexis said.
Alexis and Young are already working towards next year’s fundraising event.
Sitting on their kitchen table is a two-liter soda bottle with several dimes already inside.
“We have an opportunity to educate people to educate them about premature birth awareness,” Alexis said. “The goal of the March of Dimes is not just about babies being born prematurely but for all babies to be born healthy and happy.”