My Personal Fundraising Page

Thank you for visiting my 2020 Promise Walk for Preeclampsia fundraising page. I am grateful for your donations and for your help in spreading the word about preeclampsia. My goal is to help our community raise funds and awareness and save the lives of moms and babies! Please make a donation to support our efforts to fund education and research into this life-threatening disorder of pregnancy.

The reason I’m walking in the Promise Walk is to raise awareness and recruit donations to fund research to help prevent preeclampsia.  To me, Preeclampsia isn’t just an unknown word, it was a diagnosis that literally and figuratively brought me to my knees.  It’s been almost a year and I still can’t fully put it into words. I’ll do my best. On October 31, 2018 at 34 weeks pregnant I developed sudden onset preeclampsia.  For several weeks before I wasn’t feeling well and had physically noticed my eyes were so swollen I didn’t look like myself.  And oh the anxiety.  Not the normal ‘stop the ride!’ this is too much feeling.  This type of anxiety felt as if there was an actual pending doom I couldn’t talk myself out of, or reassure my husband that I had not suddenly morphed into a person I didn’t know.  Hormones, right?  I mean, pregnancy - HELLO!  Wrong.  My pregnancy was completely healthy, our baby was growing perfectly & I felt great - until suddenly, I didn’t.  It was preeclampsia and before I knew it I was in an ambulance being transported from Rockwall to Dallas so that they could better care for our condition.  My husband and I had struggled to conceive for many years and now this in a matter of hours - our perfect, healthy baby boy was at risk of dying, and so was I.  We live in a world where moms check in, have a normal birth and deliver a happy, healthy baby, right?  Yet again, WRONG.  Thankfully, for the most part those happy stories are the stories we hear.  However, there’s are other floors in the hospital that don’t house a happy outcome for a variety of reasons.  Preeclampsia is one of the most common causes of maternal death and severe complications in the United States, affecting 3% to 5% of expectant and new mothers. It's also responsible for 15% of premature births.  There are A LOT of things I learned during my hospital stay, I can tell you how they treat the condition. I can tell you the best foods from the hospital cafeteria, I can identify the best wheelchair pusher person by sight.  I know the closest spot to park and the fastest way to get a visitor through the maze.  Like many others, I can tell you what real, in your face fear of losing your unborn baby feels like.  I can tell you many things you’ll beat yourself up for, but aren’t at all up to you to decide.  I can tell you that we fool ourselves with our ‘plans’ but real life happens.  I can tell you the stories and visuals we’ve all seen where they kick the husband out of the room because the Mom is fading - that is real and it IS as scary as it seems.  I can tell you I was sure I would die and I prayed to God to save my son, and if I died please don’t let my husband witness it.  Despite any else, I can also tell you that I am / we are thankful for God’s favor in blessing us with our son!  We are also grateful for modern medicine and the entire care team! On 11/18/18 we met our beautiful baby boy, Miles Jonathan Turk - our 5lb., 15 oz perfect powerhouse!  See, I can tell you all of this (thanks for reading if you’ve made it this far!), but what I can’t tell you is why so many of us endure the path at all.  Would you please consider supporting team ‘Heart & Sole’ and preeclampsia research by donating to the Promise Walk 2020?  

Thank you,

Michelle 

$25.00

achieved

$500.00

goal

of your goal reached

My Supporters

  • Michelle Turk October 2019 $25.00
  • Michelle Turk October 2019 $25.00

My Teammates