By Hugh Pearson
This year’s annual Walk for Prems will be held on Sunday 23 October to raise awareness and support for babies born prematurely.
Every year, 48,000 babies are born sick or prematurely.
Clyde North’s Leah Mercer and Officer’s Madeline McPhee are mothers to children born prematurely and will be taking part in this year’s walk to raise awareness about the topic.
“It definitely should be talked about a lot more because it does happen a lot more than people think,” Ms McPhee said.
“Some more education on what to expect if your baby is born sick or premature because… we didn’t know much about prematurity or what to expect,” Ms Mercer said.
Ms Mercer said she and her family became involved in the walk after they were provided with assistance from the Life’s Little Treasures Foundation.
“My daughter was two months premature, nine weeks early and the Life’s Little Treasures Foundation kindly donated us a precious prem pack when we were in the hospital,” Ms Mercer said.
“That’s when we first heard about the foundation and all they do for us and premature babies and we noticed it was coming up in the next couple months and decided to book it in and do the walk.”
Ms McPhee said having a premature baby was very unexpected to her and her family.
“At 23 weeks I went into hospital for a check-up because I had a little bit of blood and they discovered I was three centimetres dilated and they thought I was going to have the baby there and then,” Ms McPhee said.
“I was on hospital bed rest for two weeks until I had her and it was very unexpected and a bit of a crazy time.”
As well as raising awareness, the Walk for Prems will also raise funds to support families whose babies have been born sick or before 37 weeks’ gestation.
There are many extra costs associated with caring for sick or premature babies.
“Some of the extra costs we found were the car parking at hospitals, the driving to and from the hospitals,” Ms Mercer said
“If you live in a remote area you’ve got to stay somewhere closer to the hospital. There’s extra medical requirements, our daughter is on some expensive medication and that can cost up to $70 a month.”
“She has a lot more appointments that other babies would and sometimes it’s really hard because she has to have more blood tests and procedures,” Ms McPhee said.
Foundation CEO Felicia Welstead said it’s great to have the walk return to its original format. Events will take place in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth and Canberra.
The walk was held virtually in 2020 and 2021 due to Covid restrictions.
However there will also be an option to complete the walk virtually as well.
Ms Welstead said the past two years had presented challenges for families with sick or premature babies due to limited access to their traditional support networks.
“In these unprecedented times, parents of premature and sick babies have been doing it tough, struggling with feelings of isolation and uncertainty, and missing the in-person support and connection they desperately need,” Ms Welstead said.
“We recognise the importance of bringing this community together in support of those families in need and we are thrilled that we can do that in person this year.”
