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Thursday, March 19, 2009
Boxer fights two battles

PREMATURE TWINS STILL A CONCERN

By Bud Barth Telegram & Gazette Staff
hbarth@telegram.com

WORCESTER — As if Edwin Rodriguez, Worcester's undefeated middleweight prospect, doesn't have enough on his mind already. Exercising, jabbing, bobbing, weaving, punching, ducking, winning.

And worrying.

That's a burden that the 23-year-old fighter carries with him 24/7, whether he's in the ring or not. Ever since his fiancee, Stephanie Rapa, gave birth in September 2006 to fragile 19-ounce "micro-preemie" twins, who were a full four months premature, Rodriguez has been fighting a war on two fronts.


There's his fledgling quest for the world middleweight championship, which resumes tonight with the aptly named "Homecoming" show that he's headlining at Mechanics Hall. He'll fight veteran Patrick Thompson of Lincoln, Neb., in the main event. And then there's the psychological ordeal of handling the ongoing health issues of his 2-1/2-year-old miracle babies, Edwin Jr. and Serena Lynn Rodriguez.

"Basically, they were born at the brink of viability," said Rapa, a 26-year-old College of the Holy Cross graduate who will enroll this fall at Western New England College School of Law, which has awarded her a partial academic scholarship. "It's still a very hot ethical debate about whether or not we should be resuscitating kids that are born in the 23rd week of gestation, and that's exactly when my kids were born."

The twins, who Rapa later found out were given less than a 30 percent chance at survival, remained in the neonatal intensive care unit at UMass Memorial Medical Center - Memorial Campus for four months after their birth, aided by incubators and respirators. Edwin Jr. came "very close" to dying more than once, and Serena's weight dropped to less than a pound during her darkest days.

"There were several times that we had family meetings with the neonatologists about whether we would continue to keep them on the ventilator or whether we wanted to withdraw life support - especially for little Edwin," Rapa said. "I'll never forget, one of them sat us down and said that (Edwin Jr.) had close to a zero percent chance of survival."

Since coming home the first time, the twins have been in and out of the hospital about a dozen times. Both had heart surgery and pneumonia, and both continue to have lung and breathing problems - particularly Serena, who was hospitalized in intensive care for seven days just three months ago with a respiratory virus. The twins also have vision problems and issues with balance and walking.

Serena also has a vocal cord that was paralyzed during her heart surgery. It affected her ability to swallow before surgery last summer repositioned it. It's still paralyzed, but the effect is barely noticeable in her speech, Rapa said.

But the biggest blow came Jan. 30 when the couple was informed that Edwin Jr. has hypotonic cerebral palsy, a relatively rare form of the brain injury that affects muscle tone, which is why he still can't stand up alone or walk.

That news, in particular, was a huge jolt to Rodriguez, a strapping, 6-foot, 165-pound specimen in perfect health.

"We knew that there was something going on," he said. "He wasn't walking, so we kind of were expecting it, but we didn't want to actually listen to the doctors tell us. Stephanie cried, I cried - it was not a good time. After being through so much, to hear that.

"But, you know, he's a happy kid and he's always got a smile on his face. I love Edwin and I'm happy he's here with us. We made the right decision (to maintain life support)."

Amazingly, just 2-1/2 weeks after getting that devastating diagnosis, Rodriguez went out and scored a third-round, four-knockdown TKO of Brad Austin in Biloxi, Miss., in what his manager, Larry Army Jr., said was the best performance of his career.

"I try to put (my worries) to the side a little bit and focus on the boxing, because that's how I'm going to be able to provide a better life for them," said Rodriguez, now 9-0 with six knockouts. "But they get sick a lot and they get pretty serious when they get sick, so you can't really put it aside. You have to deal with it and you have take care of them."

Both children are undergoing physical therapy. Edwin Jr. also requires occupational and speech therapy, and Serena will have speech therapy when she turns 3. Obviously, the twins need lots of care, which is handled primarily by Rapa with the help of her mother, Jamie Herrick, who lives nearby in Worcester.

On top of all that, Rapa and Rodriguez have taken in a foster daughter, 17-year-old Theresa Pickens, whom Rapa befriended while doing counseling work at the Boys & Girls Club of Worcester for the Massachusetts Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Children.

Pickens, who had a troubled upbringing, was in danger of ending up in the foster care system, possibly outside Worcester. That would have made it impossible for her to complete her senior year at Claremont Academy, where she also is a bona fide basketball star for Main South, a co-op team that draws from Claremont and University Park Campus School.

Rapa and Rodriguez, despite living in a cramped two-bedroom apartment, decided to take in Pickens.

"At first," Rapa recalled, "Edwin said, `Are you crazy?' I said, `No, I just have this feeling we're supposed to do this.' ... I just couldn't bear the thought of knowing that I could do something to help and then not doing it.

"She needs a roof over her head, she needs people that are going to care about her, and I knew that we could do both of those things. I just trusted that it's what we were supposed to do, and it's worked out well."

The roof over their head will get a little bigger very soon. This week, Rapa and Rodriguez expect to close on the purchase of their first house - a 3-bedroom, 2-1/2-bath, single-family home on Burncoat Street, which will provide more room for the five-member clan and lots of open floor space for Edwin Jr., who requires a walker.

Rodriguez said he doesn't even think any more about missing his chance at the Olympics because of the untimely birth of the babies. He and Rapa were scheduled to get on a plane for Oxford, Calif., and the Police Athletic League championships on the day the twins decided to show up.

Three days before they were to leave, Rapa had a routine doctor's appointment, where it was discovered that she was dilated and in preterm labor without even knowing it. Doctors tried to stave off the labor with bed rest and medication, but when Rapa felt her first pain, it turned out to be Serena's tiny foot stuck in the birth canal - she was a breach - so doctors rushed Rapa in for an emergency C-section.

After that, with the babies' lives hanging by a thread, Rodriguez's amateur career spun its wheels. Already a two-time national amateur champion, Rodriguez was upset in the USA Boxing championships and the National Golden Gloves, events he had won in the past, and his dreams of competing in the 2008 Olympics vanished.

"It messed up my whole rhythm," he said. "I didn't even think my kids were going to make it. They told us Edwin Jr. had a zero chance of survival and if he did survive, it would be nothing short of a miracle. Someone tells you that, it kills you. I don't even like to talk about it."

Does he ever feel cheated by the situation?

"Not at all," he said. "I feel remorse at not being able to have my kids be born healthy, but not about me not making the Olympics. My kids come first. The Olympics was only a one-time thing, but I would never choose them in the world in front of my family.

"I wanted to be an Olympian, but if I had to do it again, I'd choose my kids over that a hundred times - a billion times."

So, he turned pro instead and now has his eyes on a world title and a hefty bankroll.

"I'm going to make it as a boxer and retire, invest money in something good," he said when the subject of a post-boxing career was brought up. "A happy ending - the American dream."

After his terrible nightmare, it's only fair.

Boxing at the Hall
When: Tonight

Time: 7 p.m. (doors open at 6:30)

Tickets: $25-$50 (balcony), $75 (first row balcony), $60-$100 (floor), and $150 (ringside)

Live updates: www.telegram.com/sports

Main event: Middleweights (8 rounds) - Edwin Rodriguez (9-0, 6 KOs) of Worcester vs. Patrick Thompson (15-13-1, 5 KOs) of Lincoln, Neb.

Co-feature: Super bantamweights (8 rounds) - Dat Nguyen (14-1, 6 KOs) of Vero Beach, Fla., vs. Alex Baba (26-14-1, 19 KOs) of Doraville, Ga.

Undercard: Light heavyweights (4 rounds) - Valar Boise (pro debut) of Providence vs. Houston Crayton (0-3) of Brockton; Middleweights (4 rounds) - Philip Jackson Benson (2-0, 0 KOs) of Brooklyn, N.Y., vs. Dameon Mitchell (0-1) of New York; Welterweights (4 rounds) - Justin Reinhold (pro debut) of Fall River vs. Valdrin Muriqi (pro debut) of New York; Light welterweights (4 rounds) - Steven Ormond (2-0, 0 KOs) of Dublin, Ireland, vs. Jonathan Ocasio (0-3) of Philadelphia; Lightweights (4 rounds) - Ryan Kielczewski (3-0, 0 KOs) of Quincy vs. Aaron Chavez (2-1, 0 KOs) of Vero Beach, Fla.

Reader Comments
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I want to personally thank Bud Barth for writing this article. In a recent piece, Bud mentioned the twins, and without knowing, mentioned how they were born premature and now are healthy 2 1/2 year olds. Bud didn't know the continued struggles we, and most other, parents of 'micro preemies' face, and I felt it was important to share this with the public.
As a volunteer with the March of Dimes, I am committed to raising prematurity awareness, and, along with so many other, work to raise money to help find a 'cure' to preterm birth. I emailed Bud about wanting to get the word out about extreme prematurity and help the public understand just how much preterm birth effects the lives of the survivors and their families, and of course the families of those who do not survive. Like myself, more than half of women who give birth prematurely don't know why. Many are healthy women who 'did everything right.'
My hope is that families going through similar situations know they are not alone, and hopefully will join the cause to help fund research into prematurity prevention. It's so important that babies get their full 40 weeks!
I also wanted to reach out to families who have children with special needs. Disability awareness, equal rights, and inclusion are things we are very passionate about. We are extremely proud of our children!

Any families who may be going through similar situations can email me at rapa.stephanie@yahoo.com. Over the past two and a half years I have gathered a lot of information and support networks that I'd be happy to share!

So thank you again Bud Barth!
-Stephanie Rapa