Beard for Babies | NICU Fundraiser

Hi, my name is Mike Dutkewych. As of the time of this writing, I am the proud father of a 9-month-old baby and a 9-month-old beard. By this time next week, with your generous assistance, I hope to only have one of these.

Back in August, my wife Christie was diagnosed with preeclampsia, a serious condition related to high blood pressure that can cause organ damage and compromise a pregnancy. By September, troubling tests at a routine checkup led to her labor being induced and our son joining us six weeks early. It was an exciting but scary time for our family due to my wife’s complicated delivery, but thankfully mother and baby were discharged from the hospital ten days later, happy and healthy. Meanwhile, like many other things from pre-baby life, shaving had suddenly dropped off my priority list, never to return.

This brings us to today.

In this beard that I didn’t even mean to grow, I now see an opportunity to share my gratitude for the amazing neonatal doctors and nurses at Beaumont, Royal Oak and to raise awareness for the important work that they do day in and day out for premature babies like ours.

I am (very) ready to shave this beard, but not until I raise $1000 in donations for the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at Beaumont, Royal Oak. Think of this as a reverse No-Shave November campaign. My face will not be clean-shaven again until I’m able to give a little back to the world class caregivers who delivered my son and helped him grow strong enough to come home.

More than 11% of babies in the U.S. are born prematurely. Of these, 70% require the care of a neonatal intensive care unit. The NICU at Beaumont, Royal Oak specializes in care for high-risk, premature, and critically-ill newborns.

Your contributions to this fundraiser will directly impact these babies and their families.

This campaign is being done with assistance from Kim Tyle at Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals to ensure that the NICU receives all of the proceeds (after GoFundMe’s standard service fees). All I hope to get out of this is my face back.

So please, help me support the lifesaving work being done every day by these NICU heroes.

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Campaign video courtesy of Carl Gratiot