This Friday, on 11/11/11, Maddie should be celebrating her fourth birthday. Instead, it will be the third birthday we’ve spent without her. For the last two years, Mike and I have been comforted by donations made to the charity we started in her name Friends of Maddie. This year, we’ve decided to do something a little different.

Maddie & the guitar

A few months ago Mike had his dream of recording some songs in a studio come true. He had a blast, and I even got to sing back up on a couple of them. I know many of you have heard the silly songs Mike and I post here in the videos, but on these studio recorded songs the two of us actually sing in our own voices! Shocking, I know.

A few of our friends suggested we put the songs on iTunes, but that wasn’t ever our intention – the experience was all Mike wanted. But then we thought, “What if we put up a song and used it as a fundraiser for Friends of Maddie?” We started looking into the process of getting a song on iTunes, and it was much easier than we anticipated. So we’ve uploaded one – a sweet love song called “You Are The One” that Mike wrote for me right before we got married, with words that took on a whole new meaning after Maddie passed away.

Our hope is to sell enough downloads of “You Are The One” to help fund Friends of Maddie’s expansion in 2012 to supplying grants and scholarships to NICU families in addition the Family Support Packs that we presently send – free of charge – to level III NICUs across the nation. We’ve made it into 15 states so far, we want to double that next year! So, the more songs we sell, the more NICU families we can help. 

The song is available for purchase through the following outlets:

100% of the proceeds from the sales of the song will go to Friends of Maddie. All recording and distribution costs were covered by Mike and me. Best of all, it’s only 99 cents to purchase!

You Are The One - Friends of Maddie

Whenever someone goes on an anti-internet rant, I am quick to point out how much the internet supported my family after Maddie died.  Thank you a million times for the support and love you’ve given my family. It means the world to us. Now in honor of Maddie’s birthday, let’s support other families who need it.