Update: May 9th, 12:00 p.m.

We're glad to announce that we gained hundreds of facebook friends during our drive to raise money for "The Promise Walk," and we will donate the $500 to the event!

Update: May 7th, 9:50 a.m.

The NBC25 facebook page has grown 233 friends since we began our contest to raise money for "The Promise Walk." Be sure to tell your friends to "Like" us. We will donate 25 cents for every friend we gain now until Monday at noon!

Update: May 6th, 1:15 p.m.

This story really touched home. We decided to donate money if we hit a certain number of Facebook fans. We are revising this plan. We will donate no matter what. This is a great cause, and we will help. We will now donate the $500 or 25 cents for every fan we get by Monday. Which ever is greater. No more goal of just 2,500 - lets get more, and we'll donate more. Thanks to everyone who helps us out.

Update: May 3rd, 5:15 p.m.

We're giving you another chance at donating to this great cause! If we get to 6,350 facebook friends by Monday at 12:00 pm (noon), we will donate $500 to "The Promise Walk."

Tell everyone to like our page in order to help out!

Update: May 3rd, 2:55 p.m.

Perhaps you can't get to the walk in Lansing.  If you would still like to help find a cure for preeclampsia, you can donate now by clicking here.  

“It was a cherished time. Not a lot of people get the chance to hold their babies and say good bye,” said Stephanie Zielesch of the short time her son survived. “They deliver stillborns.”

Stephanie and her husband Rob Zielesch only got to cherish a little over a day with their son.  Their baby, born at 24 weeks, was simply born too soon to survive.  Doctors delivered him early because Stephanie developed severe preeclampsia.

“I was praying that we would luck out, because I work in TV, and people have miraculous babies all the time,” said Rob Zielesch, who is a photographer and director at NBC25.  “I wasn't lucky.”

Preeclampsia is a disease that can strike anytime during or shortly after a pregnancy, causing blood pressure to rise.  In severe cases it can lead to seizures, stroke, or even death of the mother.  It also affects blood flow to the placenta, leading to small or premature babies.  While most mothers and babies who develop preeclampsia survive, hundreds of pregnant moms and more than ten thousand babies in the United States are killed by this condition every year. 

“We have a good understanding of the physiology of this disease, but we don’t understand what causes it,“ said Dr. John Lieberman, D.O., and obstetrician at MidMichigan Medical Center in Midland.

He says he warns all mothers he treats about the dangers of preeclampsia, and recommends they not miss any pre-natal appointments.  It is most often caught after an alarming blood pressure test.

Now Rob and Stephanie Zielesch are doing what they can to remember their son and help other parents.  They will walk in The Promise Walk for Preeclampsia in Lansing on May 15, 2011.  The event will raise money for research aimed at finding out what causes preeclampsia, something not understood by doctors.  It will also fund education programs aimed at teaching expecting parents about the condition that steals dreams and lives.

“I don't want anybody to have to go though it,” said Stephanie Zielesch.  “Nobody should have to bury a child.”

You can find more information about preeclampsia and the upcoming walk, by clicking here.