Savanah Blackett was born three months early, a tiny 12 inches long and 1 pound, 14 ounces.

"It was a stressful time," remembers her mom, Marci Blackett, now of Nephi. "And she actually did well all through it."

After she was born at Cottonwood Hospital, Savanah was transferred to University Hospital, where she spent her first 90 days in a newborn intensive-care unit. Early on, she had heart surgery for a valve that didn't close.

Premature babies are fragile, and at one point, she picked up a virus and was placed once again on a ventilator. She slept at night with support from a continuous positive airway pressure mask. Her days were first tenuous, then more assured as she got stronger.

She was one of the luckiest of premature babies, her mom says. She didn't have many of the complications preemies can face. And she had "beautiful lungs for a preemie."

Still, she needed artificial surfactant, because like most preemies, her lungs lacked the slippery substance to help the alveoli remain open to accept incoming air. Developed in the 1980s through research funded by the March of Dimes, the artificial surfactant has reduced the number of babies who die from respiratory-distress syndrome from 10,000 a year to fewer than 1,000.

It's hard to reconcile the image of that undersize preemie with Savanah today as she plays a favorite game with her mom. They lie on the floor and Blackett says, "Dream." Instantly, Savanah closes her beautiful dark eyes and pretends to sleep. When mom says, "Wake up!" her eyes pop open and the two of them collapse with laughter.

Savanah is a bright, healthy toddler who will turn 2 in June. And just as March of Dimes efforts helped her, she and her mom are returning the favor. They're Utah's "ambassador family" for the organization this year.

Savanah is the March of Dimes' 2007 poster child, and the two Blacketts will be familiar faces at the organization's walkathons throughout the state in coming weeks, including the Salt Lake City walk this Saturday. When the WalkAmerica fund-raiser hits Utah County in May, they plan to walk, too, along with Blackett's best friend, whose baby was also born prematurely.

Blackett's message is simple: March of Dimes research saves lives, including that of her precious Savanah. And the walkathons, started in 1970, are the organization's primary fund-raising event, providing money that in turn is used as grants to support research to reduce birth defects, premature birth and infant mortality.

In the United States, an estimated half-million babies are born too soon, and many of them die, according to the March of Dimes. More than 120,000 are born with serious birth defects, some of which lead to lifetime disability.