Russomanno Family to Speak at March of Dimes Signature Chefs Auction

Courtney and Victor Russomanno, along with their children Joey, Elizabeth and Victoria, of Ocean Township, NJ have been selected as the Ambassador Family for the Central Jersey March of Dimes Signature Chefs Auction which will take place on October 27, 2014. Victoria was born premature and the family will share their story and how the March of Dimes has touched their lives.

Victoria Dane Russomanno was born on January 13, 2014 at 25 weeks gestation at Monmouth Medical Center. She weighed only 1lb 10oz and her family was told she may not make it through the night. Not only did she make it, she was nick-named “Wild Woman” for how spunky and active she was in her isolette. Victoria made leaps and bounds over the next few weeks and even pulled out her ventilator tube at 3 weeks old (28 weeks adjusted). She stayed on a CPAP machine, helping her breathe, for a few more weeks and was breathing on her own by the middle of March. Then things changed.

Victoria developed meningitis and her parents were told a head ultrasound showed a grade 4 and a grade 3 brain bleed. After a neurosurgeon performed a cerebral spinal fluid test and an MRI, it was determined she had a staph infection, not a brain bleed, that had abscessed in her brain and she needed surgery immediately.

The next day she was transferred to St. Barnabas Hospital and had her first brain surgery on March 28. After a week, Victoria came back to Monmouth Medical Center and recovered quickly. She came back once again to breathing on her own and living in an open crib.

Since the initial surgery, Victoria developed hydrocephalus (water on the brain) and was unable to drain fluid from her brain. During her 134 day stay in the NICU, Victoria had two more brain surgeries and two broviac placements.

Victoria was able to come home on May 27, 2014 to join her older brother Joey (14) and older sister Elizabeth (1). Her parents Courtney and Victor are thrilled to have her home and are thankful for all that family, friends, hospitals and organizations such as the March of Dimes have done to make this possible.

“We are so grateful to be involved with an organization as wonderful as the March of Dimes. We are incredibly honored to have been chosen as the Ambassador Family and look forward to sharing Victoria’s story in our efforts to raise awareness and funds for such an important cause,” said Courtney.

The March of Dimes annual Signature Chefs Auction, chaired by Pauline Poyner of Heritage House Sotheby’s International and honoring Meg Fisher, MD, Unterberg Children’s Hospital at Monmouth Medical Center, will be held at Eagle Oaks Golf & Country Club in Farmingdale, NJ on Monday, October 27 from 6:30 pm to 9:00 pm. Brian Kirk & the Jirks and Tim McLoone will help kick off the event featuring the best chefs, select wines, and local craft beers from the Central Jersey region, plus both live and silent auctions. The money raised will support the March of Dimes mission to improve the health of all babies by preventing birth defects, premature birth and infant mortality. Tickets for the event are $100 per person. For more event information and to purchase tables or tickets visit marchofdimes.org/newjersey or contact Allie Hall at rhall@marchofdimes.org (732) 952-9016.

Pictured: Victoria Dane Russomanno: the week she was born, 3 months (her original due date), the day she came home at 4.5 months and 6 months.