The International Vasa Previa Foundation has been waging a huge media campaign in the UK, the USA, and Canada (soon to be waged in Australia as well).  IVPF members in the UK have been featured in numerous pieces that has led to the Royal College of Obstetrics and Gynecology (RCOG) in the UK to change their guidelines and look for vasa previa in pregnant women with risk factors.  (The RCOG is the UK equivalent to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) in the USA.)

 

We have not gotten the media response in the USA that we are looking for, but we are still trying.  Our efforts are now aimed at getting vasa previa on the Oprah Show, but we NEED YOUR HELP.  Please send your own personal story to Oprah using the link below.  Feel free to contact us at info@... if you need help editing your story.  It needs to be less than 2,000 characters.  We have also drafted letters that your friends and family can send to Oprah. We need thousands of letters going to Oprah to get her attention.  The plan is to MASS mail these letters to her before March 31st.  PLEASE send your letter to the following address or link and ask your friends and family to send one too (samples are attached).  NOW is an excellent time! 

 

The Oprah Winfrey Show
Harpo Studios

1058 West Washington
Chicago, IL 60607

 

OR BETTER YET, CLICK HERE
or here: https://www.oprah.com/plugger/templates/BeOnTheShow.jhtml?action=respond&plugId=B2100004

 

If you use your own letter or edit the one attached, it needs to be less than 2,000 characters.  The attached letters are formatted with less than 2,000 characters and are perfect for your friends and family to cut and paste into the above link.  Don't forget to forward this email and the appropriate attached letter to your contact lists.  Do it today, while you are thinking about it.  It will only take a few moments of your time.

 

We feel that this double pronged effort will get us on the media radar in the USA once and for all.  But we cannot do it without your help.  PLEASE help us put a stop to vasa previa deaths once and for all.

 

In order to help us keep track of how many letters have been sent, please send an email to info@... once your letter has been posted on Oprah's site.  Thanks in advance for your huge contribution to this very important cause!  It only takes a moment to diagnose life...

 

 

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Here is one of the letters in text format (it is also attached as a word document):

 

Dear Oprah:

 

I am writing to ask that you do a segment on your show about vasa previa because my dear friend lost a baby to this horrific condition. Neither she nor her doctor was aware of vasa previa and its consequences. As a result, my friend’s membrane ruptured and her child bled to death. 

 

Vasa previa is a prenatal condition that occurs twice as often as spina bifida but causes the deaths of 1,600 babies in the USA each year. These babies bleed to death when their mothers’ membranes rupture. The deaths can be prevented and your show can be the vehicle to get the message to expectant parents and the medical community that vasa previa can be prenatally diagnosed and these babies saved.

 

The Sunday Times in the UK recently published information, facts, and testimonials from parents whose babies had died because of vasa previa. As a result, last month the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists promised to change their guidelines on diagnosing vasa previa. Pregnant women in the UK will now be screened for vasa previa at twenty weeks during routine ultrasound examinations.

 

Studies show that prenatal diagnosis and proper management of vasa previa saves these babies. In the USA checking for vasa previa is not part of the standard care. Your show can help support the International Vasa Previa Foundation’s (IVPF IVPF.org ) mission to make this twenty second exam part of the standard prenatal exam and eliminate these senseless deaths.

 

Any member of the IVPF would be happy to be a guest on your show, at their expense, to share with your audience their experience and the importance of this prenatal examination.  One or more of the doctors working with the IVPF would be willing to share medical information on the testing available to detect this condition. Please contact the IVPF at info@... or 267-790-6693 to arrange such an appearance. Together we can make vasa previa infant deaths a thing of the past. It only takes a moment to diagnose life…