Chris and Ashley Markum have always been fighters. They met when Chris took a martial arts class in college that Ashley was teaching. Sixteen years later, they’re still fighting, but now it’s for their son Ayden.
Ayden Markum was born on Jan. 31, 2013. Complications during the pregnancy forced Ashley to deliver him prematurely at 26 weeks, 14 weeks early.
LuAnn Cowan, a registered nurse in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) at Cox South, said that nationally 90 percent of children born at 26 weeks survive. However, they are at higher risk of disabilities.
“I think in any traumatic experience like that, people don’t always respond knowing the future,” Ashley Markum said. “You always try to think positive, but, for the first time in our lives we really were scared.” Continue Reading at the News Leader »