Want to know where Zeek is now?  Visit Zeek's Travels.

Ezekiel “Zeek” Taylor, is an artistic 7˝-year-old who loves music, cooking, making greeting cards and performing with a drum line.  While you would not know it by simply looking at him, Zeek is healthy today, thanks to the March of Dimes.  When Zeek was born severely premature, 14 weeks before his due date, he weighed just 1 lb., 14 oz.  Seven and a half years later, he has been named the 2007 National Ambassador for the March of Dimes.

Watch a video of Zeek's Story.

In the coming year, as the 2007 National Ambassador, Zeek will travel the country with his parents, Betty and Corey, to share their story, raising awareness of the seriousness of premature birth.  Every year, more than half a million babies are born prematurely in the U.S. — one in eight babies born too soon, a national health crisis that must be stopped.  Betty explains, “Due to the increasing rate of premature birth among African-American women, we feel an urgency to work with the March of Dimes to raise awareness and to support research that would further impact the lives of babies.  We are very passionate about helping all families.”

Following the premature birth of his son Zeek, Corey Taylor spent many frightening days watching both his wife, and their tiny baby fight for their lives.  Betty had developed complications 26 weeks into her pregnancy and rushed to the emergency room.  Doctors told Corey that his wife was in danger of heart failure and coma, and they needed to perform an emergency cesarean section.  Zeek was born weighing just 1 pound, 14 ounces.  While both mom and baby made it through the delivery, Zeek spent his first 103 days of his life in the neonatal intensive care unit, fighting to survive.  He was given surfactant therapy to help his immature lungs inflate between each breath and went on to fight and win one medical battle after another — anemia, abnormal blood flow from the heart and jaundice.  Even after he went home, Zeek faced surgery to correct reflux problems, retinopathy of prematurity, hernias and pressure on his brain due to meningitis. 

Betty and Corey were both deeply affected by their experience with Zeek's birth and are grateful for their healthy son and the medical advances — many developed by March of Dimes-funded research — that saved his life.  “Our family is forever indebted to the March of Dimes,” says, Corey.  “It is because of research funded by the March of Dimes, and specialized care Zeek received at birth, that he enjoys a happy, normal life.  We can't say thanks enough for his remarkable outcome, and we look forward to sharing our story with families all across the nation.”

The March of Dimes is a national voluntary health agency whose mission is to improve the health of babies by preventing birth defects, premature birth and infant mortality. Founded in 1938, the March of Dimes funds programs of research, community services, education, and advocacy to save babies and in 2003 launched a campaign to address the increasing rate of premature birth.

The March of Dimes National Ambassador Program is an annual campaign, started in 1946, that puts a face on the March of Dimes mission.  Throughout the year, the National Ambassador attends events and conferences, speaks with volunteers, does media interviews and appears with corporate leaders, celebrities and the President of the United States to raise awareness of the March of Dimes.

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