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Signature Chefs Auction, St. Louis MO

At the 2019 Signature Chefs Auction, the Hero for Babies Award will be presented to Lee Fetter, former President of St. Louis Children's Hospital and recently retired Group President of BJC HealthCare.

From 2002 to 2012, Fetter served as president of St. Louis Children’s Hospital, one of the premier pediatric hospitals in the United States. As the pediatric teaching hospital for Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis Children’s Hospital offers nationally recognized programs for physician training and research.

Fetter joined Children’s from Washington University School of Medicine, where he served as associate vice chancellor, administration and finance, and chief operating officer of the Faculty Practice Plan, the affiliated 970-physician group practice. There he was responsible for all financial, facilities, planning and general business affairs of the school and related activities with the affiliated teaching hospitals, including Children’s and Barnes-Jewish Hospital.

Fetter earned his undergraduate degree at St. Louis University and a master’s degree in higher education administration and finance at Harvard University.

We are honored to present this year's Hero for Babies Award to him, as his dedication to the health of moms and babies in our community has been life-changing.
 

 

The first half of my pregnancy was routine. Then, at a little more than 22 weeks into my pregnancy with the twins, something didn’t seem right. My doctor confirmed my water broke for one of the twins, so I was admitted to the hospital immediately and told there was a 50 percent chance I would deliver the twins within a week.

 

The next evening I started having contractions so I was transferred to Barnes-Jewish Hospital because they were connected to St. Louis Children’s Hospital and had Level 4 NICU support, the highest level of care. Two days later, I went into labor and Reese and Noah were born. Reese weighed one pound two ounces and Noah weighed one pound five ounces. 

 

That first night, the NICU informed us Noah’s lungs were struggling to get him enough oxygen. Despite the team’s amazing efforts, we lost our sweet Noah. But, with no time to grasp the emotion of Noah's passing, our focus turned to Reese because her situation was just as dire. 

 

It was 17 long days before I could even do Kangaroo Care and hold Reese, and 124 days before she could come home. During her stay, she was diagnosed with an extremely serious fungal infection in her blood stream, went to the Cardiac Cath Lab to have her underdeveloped heart treated and also had laser eye surgery and injections in her eyes for retinopathy of prematurity. All along the way, she amazed us and her team of doctors and nurses with her strength and perseverance.

 

Today Reese is a fun loving, determined, yet silly toddler that continues to exceed expectations on a daily basis. While she’s a fighter, we know her brother Noah watches over her.

 

March of Dimes not only provides so much to help premature babies, they also take care of the entire family. For instance, every month March of Dimes sponsored a photographer to take photos of Reese and our family. For many families this is a norm but NICU families tend to forget the typical daily activities and this gave us our only newborn family photos. Something as simple as a warm meal with other NICU families allowed us to connect and support each other.  Additionally, their Kangaroo Care classes were priceless.

 

We're extremely grateful for March of Dimes and honored to serve as the St. Louis Signature Chefs Auction Ambassador Family. 

 

The Chambers

Keith, Tiffany, Reese and Noah

 

Not all twins were meant to walk side by side, sometimes one has wings to fly.