The March of Dimes Walk America was

held on Saturday and one of the three co-chairpersons was Peggy Young. The other two co-chairs were Tom Wuertz and Denise Larson. Young became involved with the March of Dimes after her son Ross was born, May 14, 2000.

"Ross was born a month early and weighed five and a half pounds. When he was three weeks old we found out he had pyloric stenosis. This is a condition where

the muscles at the top of the stomach closes up. He wasn't getting enough food and was constantly throwing up and crying. We took him to the Mayo Clinic in the middle of the night and hew as in surgery right away," said Young.

Ross was saved because of research done by the March of Dimes in discovering this condition, pyloric stenosis. He had two surgeries to take care of this problem.

He also developed a respiratory infection.

Young said that 20 years ago a child with Ross's condition might have died without all the research done by the March of Dimes.

"Every day we do nebulizer treatment on Ross. This is taking a vial of medication and placing a mask over Ross when he is sleeping, He doesn't like the treatment and that is why we do it when he is sleeping. As he gets older he won't mind this treatment as much.

We are lucky as we only have to do one little task on him each day. Other families that have medical problems have to haul their children to doctors and therapists each day," said Young.

Young's duties as co-chair person included contacting sponsors and arranging new markers for each mile

of the six mile walk. These markers had the sponsor's name on them with words to cheer the walkers on. For example Sterling Real Estate's marker stated that they were a Hero for Babies. Innovative Signs of Austin donated all the markers for the March of Dimes Walk.

Young was asked to be the co -chair after last year's walk. She and the other co-chairs kept in contact with the teams that walk together throughout the year to give them support. Another responsibility was supplying the paper sneakers that were for sale at businesses for a dollar and the donor's name was written on the sneaker.

"Until I became a parent I didn't realize what the March of Dimes did. I couldn't think of another charity that I would have gotten so much out of as this one," said Young.

Young works at Riverland Community College as a financial aid and advisor. She and her husband Ed also sell real estate through Sterling Realty.