MARTINSBURG, WV - Chefs from around the Eastern Panhandle cooked up recipes for healthy babies.
The Chairman of the March of Dimes Signature Chefs Event, Edward Wilson, says, "Just wonderful for the community, for the March of Dimes and for the target audience we serve, which is pregnancies, difficult pregnancies, especially low birth weight babies."
One of the guest speakers for the event, Selena Jackson, was born 13-weeks early at two pounds two ounces.
Selena's mother, Melissa Jackson, says her daughter was so tiny she couldn't wear normal baby clothes. She says, "We have this little stuffed animal bear at home that's in this little glass box that has her little dress on. It's unbelievable."
Now Selena's at a healthy weight for a 17-year-old, but she still faces challenges from being born premature.
Jackson says, "At a very young age, I was diagnosed with cerebral palsy. Most people don't realize I have it because it's very mild, however, it effects me everyday."
Unlike others diagnosed with the disability, Selena's able to eat on her own, walk and speak like everyone else.
Her mother says she's proud of her daughter, but she remembers the hardship.
"The thirteen weeks that she spent in the hospital, every night, wondering, if she's going to make it through the next day," she says, "It gets me teared up right now."
The Community Director for the Eastern Panhandle March of Dimes, Michelle Coffey says, "I can't imagine as a mother the heartbreak, the agony, the worry that these parents, the grandparents, these families go through."
March of Dimes supporters say they'll continue fundraising for healthy pregnancies and healthy babies.
The Chairman of the March of Dimes Signature Chefs Event, Edward Wilson, says, "Just wonderful for the community, for the March of Dimes and for the target audience we serve, which is pregnancies, difficult pregnancies, especially low birth weight babies."
One of the guest speakers for the event, Selena Jackson, was born 13-weeks early at two pounds two ounces.
Selena's mother, Melissa Jackson, says her daughter was so tiny she couldn't wear normal baby clothes. She says, "We have this little stuffed animal bear at home that's in this little glass box that has her little dress on. It's unbelievable."
Now Selena's at a healthy weight for a 17-year-old, but she still faces challenges from being born premature.
Jackson says, "At a very young age, I was diagnosed with cerebral palsy. Most people don't realize I have it because it's very mild, however, it effects me everyday."
Unlike others diagnosed with the disability, Selena's able to eat on her own, walk and speak like everyone else.
Her mother says she's proud of her daughter, but she remembers the hardship.
"The thirteen weeks that she spent in the hospital, every night, wondering, if she's going to make it through the next day," she says, "It gets me teared up right now."
The Community Director for the Eastern Panhandle March of Dimes, Michelle Coffey says, "I can't imagine as a mother the heartbreak, the agony, the worry that these parents, the grandparents, these families go through."
March of Dimes supporters say they'll continue fundraising for healthy pregnancies and healthy babies.
