Last week, our little family, The Mister, Ms 4 , Mr 2 and myself, participated in the 2015 Walk For Prems.  It was a great day, and we all had fun!  Although it was quite windy for much of the day, it didn’t seem to put anyone off and there was a great crowd gathered around Albert Park Lake in Melbourne.  The Walk For Prems is a regular Walk, that raises funds for the Life’s Little Treasures Foundation.  Life’s Little Treasures Foundation is Australia’s leading charity dedicated to the families of babies born sick or prior to 37 weeks gestation. This year, the aim is to raise $250,000 and the walk was held in six cities around Australia simultaneously.  The major sponsor for the race, was Medela.  Medela understands the importance of human milk in the NICU and know that the content of human milk makes a considerable contribution to the best possible development of premature babies.  According to Medela CEO, Jarrod Percy, the organisation is looking forward to helping the foundation in the very valuable work it does to support the families of premature and sick babies.

We have been blessed with healthy, full term pregnancies with both our children, and feel incredibly grateful for this.  When I was presented with the opportunity to participate in the walk with Team Medela, to raise awareness and funds, I discussed it with The Mister and we both agreed it would be a great way to support those that have not been as lucky as we have.  

You see, this cause is also important to us, as we have friends who have experienced the roller coaster ride that comes with the premature birth of your baby.  Their little man Thomas was born at 27 weeks.  What followed was three months in the Royal Children’s Hospital with surgeries, IV tubes, humidicribs and more.  The family received support from Life’s Little Treasures, and others throughout this bewildering and scary time.  Eventually, they were able to take their wee little man home, where he received lots of early intervention in  the form of physiotherapists and occupational therapists from the Royal Children’s Hospital. Thomas is now in primary school, and continues to work on his motor skills and is also learning keyboard, riding his bike and participating in running try outs.  He is an amazing little man, who in the words of his mum “is a very caring boy who loves learning about the world he lives in and it has been possible because of the Royal Children’s Hospital including all the staff and availability of equipment”.  

It’s amazing what babies and families can do when they have the right supports in place.  The Life’s Little Treasures Foundation want to ensure that no family endures the traumatic and life changing experience of having a premature of sick baby without easy access to critical information and community support to help them through their journey.  The Walk For Prems event continues to raise money, and in the last three years has raised half a million dollars.  The actual Walk was great – there was such a fun atmosphere, with families walking with their babies and kids and even their dogs!  There were prams and toddlers and lots and lots of teams walking for the little one in their life who made their way into the world too early.  At the end of the walk, the kids enjoyed music and food and all sorts of fun activities.  It was a great day!

If you would like to find out more about the work that Life’s Little Treasures do to support prem babies and their families, click here.  And if you feel like you would like to donate some money, and help the Foundation reach their goal of $250,000 you can do so here.

Have your kids participated in a fundraising walk/run?  How did they go?  I would love to know!