Mum & Dad to Run hundreds of km's to Celebrate Miracle Baby's First Birthday
A child’s 1st birthday would usually have parents planning a cake and party activities.
Instead, Selwyn mother Cat and father Mike are organising a fundraiser which will see Cat and her husband run hundreds kilometres for local charity One Mother to Another.
One Mother to Another supports parents in hospital with sick children or newborns, and after supporting them, this family now wants to give something back.
Cat’s waters broke at around 12 weeks gestation and the couple’s second child, Maximus, was born on May 9th, 2024, at 33 weeks and four days. Doctors gave Maximus a 0% to 3% chance of survival, with the most logical next step being to terminate the pregnancy. But as long as their baby boy had a heartbeat, Cat and Mike never gave up hope.
Supported by their family and friends, Cat spent the next 16 weeks on strict bed rest, restricted to showering and short bathroom trips.
Now Maximus, affectionately called their “miracle warrior,” has defied impossible odds to reach his first birthday, and to celebrate Cat is asking friends, family and supporters to donate to One Mother to Another in lieu of gifts.
“We don’t need any gifts,” Cat says. “Maximus is alive, and that’s all we need. This is our way of giving back after so long of others helping us,” she says.
For every $10 donated to One Mother to Another, Cat (with husband Mike in tow) will run 1km around the Selwyn District within a 24-hour period, with plans to exceed 600km. The run is scheduled to begin on the morning of 31st May and culminate on 1st June. Friends and whānau will join her for portions of the run.
“I didn’t know if our little baby boy growing inside me was going to survive,” says Cat. “Even if he made it to 23 weeks which is when a baby is considered “viable”, his little lungs might not work when he was born. But somehow, he fought his way into the world, graduated from the Neo natal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), and came home where he belongs. He’s our little miracle.”
-ENDS-
For more information please contact:
Joy Reid
One Mother to Another CEO
Cell: 027 569569
Backgrounder:
One Mother to Another is a South-Island based charity which supports 6000+ families every year (primarily mothers) by providing a care package filled with both practical items and tools to aid mental wellbeing, including a handwritten note of encouragement.
Cat has been a recipient of multiple care packages -10 to date - during Maximus’s numerous hospital stays. These packages, thoughtfully crafted for parents of hospitalised children, have been a source of comfort and solidarity at an incredibly challenging time.
The care packages supported Cat through challenging moments, including NICU stays, surgeries, and illness admissions. Maximus’s journey has included:
- A seven-week NICU stay, including resuscitation at birth, full incubation, and breathing difficulties. · Surgery at 36 hours old to repair an undiagnosed TOF-OA (tracheoesophageal fistula and oesophageal atresia).
- A VACTERL association diagnosis, cleft lip and palate repair, and numerous other surgeries, including emergency PEG placement and conversion to a Mic-Key Button for feeding.
- Hospitalisations for COVID, RSV, dehydration, and vomiting.
- Special occasions like Mother’s Day in NICU, where a care package brought Cat to tears.
Specific items such as handwritten notes, crocheted hearts, and earplugs were some of the more memorable items within the packs.“Hospitals are shocking for sleeping in,” Cat says, “but these thoughtful items made all the difference.”