RALEIGH — Infant mortality and birth defect rates in North Carolina are among the highest in the country, and a national organization wants to do something about it.

TheMarch of Dimesis asking for $1 million to fund research and prevention programs. Karen Trachtman told state lawmakers her daughter, Emily, is alive today because of the March of Dimes.

"Emily received a lot of the benefit of a lot of medical technology and drug therapy that was there because of March of Dimes' funded research. Her life was saved by that research," she says.

Advocates say spending $1 million today would save the state $15 million later, which is the cost of caring for children with serious birth defects in North Carolina for one year.