Grady's Teddy Bear Run For Infant Mortality Taking Place In Genes

On March 21, 2021 Grady James Tiffenback was born at 8:40am. Just like his big brother, he was born premature at 31 weeks weighing only 3 pounds, 9 ounces. Shortly after delivery, he was airlifted to Iowa City Stead Family Children's Hospital. About a month prior, he was diagnosed with a rare congenital heart defect called total anomalous pulmonary venous return, meaning his pulmonary veins were connected to the wrong place on his heart and prevented his blood from circulating properly.

That evening, Grady was taken to the cath lab and had a stent placed in hopes this would keep him stable and he would be able to grow and get strong enough for open heart surgery to correct the location of his pulmonary veins. On March 22, it was discovered Grady had a minor brain bleed. Doctors believed this began before Grady was born and were hopeful it would begin to heal and resolve itself. The next two days were spent doing countless tests, monitoring his heart very closely, and trying to balance his underdeveloped lungs with the right amount of blood flow to pump oxygen throughout his entire body.

Finally, on day 3, another head ultrasound was done to check on the brain bleed and the family was devastated to learn that it had gotten much worse. Grady's tiny body had been through too much in such a short period of time and there was nothing left for doctors to do to help him. Even with COVID restrictions, Grady's older brother Gavin and grandparents could come meet him, a hello was also a goodbye. After 84 hours on earth, Grady gained his angel wings on march 24 at 8:40pm.

It is with this story and this loss, that the Grady James Foundation was born and will be hosting their inaugural event the "Grady's Teddy Bear Run 5k and kids races". September 25 at the Geneseo Park District's Athletic Field. The fundraiser will be held in memory of Grady and benefiting the local organization "No Foot To Small". NFTS provides awareness to pregnancy loss and infant mortality while encouraging the celebration of angels. Initially serving families across Iowa, NFTS is expanding across the country. Learn more about NFTS on their website.

Get all the information on the fundraiser and how you can register below.

Grady's Teddy Bear Run

LOOK: Here are the 50 best beach towns in America

Every beach town has its share of pluses and minuses, which got us thinking about what makes a beach town the best one to live in. To find out, Stacker consulted data from WalletHub, released June 17, 2020, that compares U.S. beach towns. Ratings are based on six categories: affordability, weather, safety, economy, education and health, and quality of life. The cities ranged in population from 10,000 to 150,000, but they had to have at least one local beach listed on TripAdvisor. Read the full methodology here. From those rankings, we selected the top 50. Readers who live in California and Florida will be unsurprised to learn that many of towns featured here are in one of those two states.

Keep reading to see if your favorite beach town made the cut.