Six-year-old Lauren Fleming spent the first five months of her life struggling to survive. Born three and a half months premature, she weighed just 2 pounds, 1 ounce.

Her parents, Nikki and Densel Fleming, watched helplessly while their first-born child was treated for respiratory distress and underwent multiple surgeries related to a damaged vocal cord and a heart defect.

On Thursday Lauren returned to Levine Children’s Hospital in Charlotte – this time as the national ambassador for the March of Dimes.

For the next 12 months, she and her family will travel the United States helping raise awareness – and money -- for the national organization that works to prevent birth defects, pre-term births and infant mortality.

At a news conference Thursday, Lauren, who now has a younger sister and brother, seemed unfazed by the attention.

“She appears a bit shy when she is around people, but she’s certainly not,” her father, Densel Fleming, told Qcitymetro.com. “She gets it.”

The family, who live in Marvin, will be officially introduced as March of Dimes ambassadors next week in New York.

Nikki Fleming, a stay-at-home mom, described the “nightmare” six years ago when she realized that her first child, expected in May, would be born instead in January.

“I just have to thank this hospital,” she said, listing some of the many physicians who worked to save her daughter’s life. “They helped us get over the hump of this whole circumstance.”

According to the March of Dimes, more than a half million babies are born prematurely in the United States each year.

Dr. Docia Hickey, one of the Fleming’s neonatologists, said African American women face a 50 percent greater risk of pre-term births. A higher incidence continues, she said, even when health and socioeconomic factors are considered.

“Some of it we’re not sure of,” she said, suggesting that higher stress may play a factor. “It’s not easy being, still, in this country, Afro American.”

Healthwise, Nikki Fleming said she did everything by the book when she became pregnant.

The March of Dimes’ ambassador program was started in 1946 to put a face on the organization’s mission. Ironically, Densel Fleming, an investment manager, said he had worked as a March of Dimes volunteer for more than 30 years.

The next 12 months, he said, will involve a “robust schedule” of travel – nearly 20 trips in the first three months alone. Last week, the Flemings flew to Florida to meet golfing legend Arnold Palmer, a long-time March of Dimes supporter.

“This is a beautiful volunteering dream for us,” Densel Fleming said. “This means a lot to me personally. It certainly means a lot to my family, and it means a lot to our friends as well.”

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