MOD SQUAD
For Local 212 member, March of Dimes fund-raisers are personal
John Lennon said, “Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans.”
Two years ago UAW Local 212 member Scott Moldenhauer was busy planning his March of Dimes presentation to 600 fellow workers at Chrysler LLC’s Tech Center in Auburn Hills, Mich. His family was busy planning a baby shower for his cousin, Heidi Rayner.
But when the phone call came that night, his plans — and plans for the baby shower — suddenly changed.
“We got the word that Heidi was in labor. She was only in her 25th week. That’s way too early to give birth,” said Moldenhauer, a Product Quality Improvement representative for the company’s Advanced Stamping Manufacturing Engineering unit.
Alyssa Grace was born weighing a mere 1 pound and 11 ounces. She was immediately scheduled for surgery to repair a perforated bowel and remove a possible cancerous lump from a gland.
Moldenhauer’s prepared remarks went out the window, so instead he spoke from the heart. “I told the audience that the Lord moves in mysterious ways. Premature births can happen to any family. Well, it did for ours,” he said.
“I was pretty emotional. It was tough, but people told me later that they were moved to contribute because of the personal story I told about my cousin. I guess I was wearing my heart on my sleeve that day,” Moldenhauer said.
While a half-million babies born prematurely each year are more likely to die or have lifelong disabilities, Alyssa’s story has a happy ending. One year after her birth, she was being pulled in a wagon for her first March of Dimes WalkAmerica.
Now, except for the scar across her stomach, she doesn’t look any different from any other toddler. “Nobody would ever guess she was born prematurely,” Moldenhauer said.
This is the third year Moldenhauer will be promoting the March of Dimes, but his commitment to the cause goes back to the second grade. “I remember someone coming in and making a presentation about polio. It was the thing to do then, going door to door collecting dimes in your neighborhood,” he said.
If Moldenhauer wasn’t in it for the long haul then, he sure is now.
