50 Marathons for NICU
Fundraiser for the NICU at The Royal Women's Hospital Melbourne
From this Saturday, December 9th to January 27th, teacher Mr Tom Price will be running 50 marathons in 50 days to raise awareness and $50k (at minimum) to support the Neonatal (Newborn) Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at the Royal Women’s Hospital in Melbourne, Victoria. Each year the NICU care for up to 2000 babies across Victoria. Some of Victoria’s most unwell and premature babies come to receive the highly specialised care they need. Many babies will spend months in the hospital, in what is a very emotional and difficult time for families.
As a passionate and dedicated runner for the past 3 years, Tom was sitting in the NICU feeling helpless, emotional, and scared, but knew instantly that he could use his love for his family and running by putting his time and energy into something positive to raise awareness and funds to support families going through this challenging time.
To see the challenges his sister has gone through to become a mother and the hurdles of premature birth, the least Tom thinks he can do is put his body and mind through a gruelling challenge. The 42.2kms a day across 50 days will equate to 2110kms during the hottest months in Victoria, this is the equivalent to running halfway across Australia.
Tom and his family are not looking to raise any money for themselves, this is for ALL current and future NICU parents/families and everything will be donated to the NICU to provide much needed critical care equipment. One of the most special moments a parent can have with their precious baby is during the skin-to-skin contact time in the reclining chair. Seeing his sister, Zoe, hold Sylvie for the first time in the kangaroo chair is the reason for starting this event. The cost of a single kangaroo chair is $2,759. There is currently less than a dozen chairs available, with the NICU housing up to 60 newborns at any given time. They are also be hoping that additional donations can be provided toward much needed research to discover and develop ways to support newborns during this stage of their life.
Thank you for the support Kambrya community!