Student mom working to prevent spina bifida
By Laura Weems
Old Gold and Black Reporter

Sophomore Angela Mims is studying computer science, but the main focus in her life is her daughter, Delia.

Delia isn’t like other little girls her age. She was born with spina bifida, a birth defect that affects one out of every 1,000 newborns in this country. Sometime during the first four weeks of Delia’s conception, her spinal column did not fully close.The result is a life full of painful surgeries, confined to braces and wheelchairs.

Mims and her husband, David, both 28, learned of their daughter’s defect after four months of pregnancy.

At the time, both were completely unaware of the defect and what it meant in terms of their daughter’s life.

Spina bifida, like many birth defects, affects each child differently.

The hole left in the spine could be the size of a fist or the size of a football.
Mims started a fax campaign in which they hope to get local businesses as well as the university’s academic departments, student organizations and administration to put a small plug for folic acid at the bottom of their cover sheet. That way any person who receives a fax from one of these institutions will also get the news.

What the Mimses found out, however, was that their daughter’s condition possibly could have been prevented.

By taking a folic acid vitamin supplement, Mims could have reduced her risk by up to 75 percent.

“I was just angry!” she recalled feeling when she found out. Angela, who prides herself on being up-to-date and educated, felt, in her own words, “stupid.”

“How could I have not known that?” she remembers wondering.

It was at that point that the Mimses decided education was the answer.

They believe every woman needs to understand the risk of spina bifida and how easily it may be prevented.

As soon as Delia was born, they began working with the March of Dimes to get the word out about folic acid.

“We’ve got to tell people,” Angela said while rocking her daughter on her lap. “We can save babies ... and that’s huge.”

For the past two years, Delia has accompanied her parents to fundraisers, schools, organizations and offices to speak to people about spina bifida and folic acid.
They talk to anyone who will listen, the people behind the grocery counter and students.
“Even if we talk to just one person who listens, that’s one more baby that’s born healthy,” Mim said.

Few women understand the risk of having a baby born with spina bifida.
It is the most common neural tube defect and one of the most devastating.
The majority of cases, 90 to 95 percent, are born to women with no family history of genetic birth defects.

In fact, they don’t know what causes it at all. Environmental and genetic studies have come up with no conclusive evidence.

Studies have shown, however, that women taking folic acid supplements reduce their risk greatly. The amount of recommended folic acid, 400 micrograms, is the amount found in most multi-vitamins.

A daily vitamin routine is recommended for all women of childbearing age.
The defect occurs within the first four weeks of pregnancy.

Women, however, don’t usually know they are pregnant until around that time, if not later. Once a woman knows she is pregnant, it’s already too late.

A years supply of multi-vitamins cost $84. The Mimses spent over $30,000 on Delia’s medical bills within her first year of life.

Delia’s condition may be debilitating but during the interview, she wheeled her chair adeptly around the room, glancing from time to time at the adults engrossed by a conversation she has undoubtedly listened to a million times.

“Things we were told she would never be able to do ... she’s doing,” Mims said.
For more information on the Fax Campaign or about folic acid and spina bifida in general, contact David or Angela Mims at (336) 699-2817 or e-mail them at mimsag0@wfu.edu.