50 Marathons In 50 Days: Help Tom Price Raise Funds For The NICU
“Any newborn parent finds it quite hard, just the experience of parenthood, but when you have a fragile little one and you don’t know what’s going to happen, it’s such an emotionally challenging roller coaster.” – Tom Price
Sylvie’s Introduction To The World
After a heart-wrenching 5 years of IVF, undergoing intensive cervical cancer treatment and wishing for a healthy newborn, Zoe gave birth to a beautiful baby girl via emergency caesarean with her partner Gray by her side.
With this unbreakable love and connection, also came trauma. Due to unexpected complications with her pregnancy, Zoe’s daughter Sylvie had come into the world premature – with Zoe’s waters breaking at only 21 weeks and 5 days of gestation.
If Sylvie was to be born within the next 4 days, she wouldn’t have survived. However, medical intervention allowed Zoe to carry Sylvie for a total of 23 weeks and 6 days, when developing sepsis meant an emergency caesarean was Sylvie’s best possible chance at life.
At birth, Sylvie weighed a fragile 628 grams.
Zoe had overcome so much to get to this point – including 18 surgeries as part of her cancer and IVF treatment, being isolated in the 2 weeks prior to birth in a hospital room from loved ones due to contracting COVID-19, and the fear that if she had delivered too early, Sylvie wouldn’t survive.
“We watched mothers and babies leave the hospital from our window and we hoped that one day that this would be us. We sang your name and told you how much we loved you, so that you would feel safe. The doctors explained that you will have a 'golden hour' and there was a possibility that you may not make it out of the theatre.”
Sylvie’s fight for life was just beginning – with both mother Zoe and newborn receiving blood transfusions after birth.
The NICU – Neonatal (newborn) Intensive Care Unit – would be a major part of Sylvie’s life in the 134 days to follow. Here, at the Royal Women’s Hospital in Melbourne, she received specialised care to support her during her fragile first months of life.
Donate today to support the NICU
Sylvie’s story isn’t an isolated one. In Australia, about 8% (8 out of 100) babies are born prematurely (less than 37 weeks of gestation). The danger and risk to their health and survival increases the shorter the gestation period – and every day counts.
Many of these premature babies require support from the NICU to survive - with undeveloped organs leading to difficulties breathing, feeding and swallowing, liver problems such as jaundice, and other complications or even permanent disabilities. Many of these babies grow into strong, healthy children, but for some parents, giving birth prematurely can be world-shattering.
In many cases, the cause of premature births is a mystery, sometimes with no way to prevent or predict it.
For new mothers like Zoe, giving birth prematurely can feel like mentally drowning in a total lack of control, with helplessness, fear and uncertainty in the future of her baby girl. Hope can be hard to hold onto, but little Sylvie was worth every moment.
50 Marathons In 50 Days: Running To Raise Funds For The NICU
Witness to the “emotionally challenging roller coaster” that Zoe was enduring, Sylvie’s uncle, Tom Price, knew he had to do something.
“Seeing my sister hold my niece, I said the second time I went to visit, Zoe, I'm going to be running 50 marathons for you.”
A Health and Physical Education teacher at Kambrya College, Tom is currently training for the ‘50 In 50’ challenge. He is committed to running a distance equivalent to 50 marathons in 50 days to raise $50,000 minimum for the NICU at the Royal Women’s Hospital in Melbourne, Victoria.
"We are so proud of Tom and his amazing dedication to help premature babies and their families in the NICU. Sylvie has one very special uncle," said Zoe.
Humble and inspirational, Tom shared that, “I started running about three and a bit years ago, like many during COVID. I'd never been a runner. For me in 2019 I went through probably the hardest time of my life with a lot of trauma in itself, and Zoe helped me a lot with that.
I overcame some massive hurdles in my life and then running changed everything. I saw the personal growth that comes with it, but just the dopamine kick that you get after a run, there's nothing like it.”
Tom went from running zero kilometres to 90km a week in his first year. His passion for running is clear, “My conversations with people are so much better, my relationships with people are better, my physical health, my social health, my mental health... all of this has come from running,” but his selfless commitment to supporting the NICU is even more remarkable.
“This isn't for us, this isn't for my family in particular. This is for all the NICU families that are going to be there now, but also in the future.”
The 50 marathons in 50 days challenge will take place from 9 December 2023 to 27 January 2024 in Melbourne, primarily around the Patterson Lakes River and Bicentennial Park in Chelsea. During this time, Tom will be running “just shy of 300km a week” – an incredible, limit-defying effort. He’ll be running a marathon distance of 42.2km a day, and 2,110km total in Victoria’s hottest months – a distance equivalent to running about halfway across Australia.
“It’s not about the running though… it’s for a bigger cause.”
Tom’s focus is to raise funds that will go towards supporting the families of critically ill, premature babies during this difficult and emotionally burdening time.
“It’s just not meant to happen. Babies aren't meant to be born at that stage and 10 years ago, the doctors and professionals would have said 24 weeks or under, that's it. But now the research is always advancing, and they get a little bit of government funding. Obviously, that goes to the life-care equipment that is keeping this baby alive. It doesn't go towards things like research and the things that parents need,” said Tom.
Kangaroo Chairs: Importance Of Skin-To-Skin Contact
One of the biggest challenges of parents of premature babies is missing out on something many new parents take for granted – having precious skin-to-skin contact time with their newborn. Due to health complications with premature babies, this time may be restricted in the hours, days, weeks or months after birth while staying in hospital. In these situations, skin-to-skin contact can be a little as an hour a day.
“It's pretty scary when you go in there and they're hooked up to a machine that's beeping all these different alarms. They had at times doctors just run in, pull things out and take your baby away and you don't know what's happening. They're doing the right things, they know what's going on, but it's quite intense and you're in a room with another three couples going through the exact same thing... it's just a really, really tough time for everyone,” said Tom.
Particularly for mothers, this separation from their child can result in devastating feelings of loss or even guilt. In the confusion and chaos, having a safe, comfortable space to have skin-to-skin contact with their child whenever possible can have a drastically positive impact on the physical and emotional wellbeing of parents. It may sound like a seemingly small thing, but in the moment it’s everything.
These premature babies are not only small but can be extremely delicate – from their sensitive skin, to their undeveloped organs, and often require oxygen masks to help them breathe, like Sylvie.
Cradling a healthy sleeping baby can be challenging enough for new parents. However, for parents of premature newborns in the NICU like Zoe and her partner Gray, it’s - as Tom describes - “another world in itself” of apprehension and difficulty.
A common term used for skin-to-skin contact in the context of a NICU is ‘kangaroo care’ – where a newborn is held against the bare skin of a parent, often with a blanket or parent’s shirt draped over their back to create a soothing, pouch-like effect.
By raising funds through the ‘50 In 50’ challenge, Tom hopes to help these struggling families be as comfortable as possible – both physically and emotionally.
“They have these things called kangaroo chairs which are like a reclining chair. They're about $2,500 to $2,700. The aim is to get 20 of those donated to the hospital.”
"The hospital can hold up to about 60 babies at a time and there's only 10 chairs. Parents are having to stand up with their baby or sit down in uncomfortable chairs. If they have a reclining chair, they can actually soak up that one hour they get a day to hold their child.”
Alongside helping build bonds between parent and child, skin-to-skin contact or kangaroo care can help alleviate anxiety, cocooning both parent and child in its calming effects. Physiologically, it can aid in everything from temperature regulation to regulating the baby’s heartbeat.
“It’s amazing and there's so many benefits for the child as well with their development and growth through that skin-to-skin contact, feeling each other's body temperature and scent and that sort of thing. It's such a memory that parents never forget,” shared Tom.
The kangaroo chairs themselves are designed specifically for use in NICU scenarios to allow parent and child to get the most out of the emotional, therapeutic and physiological benefits of skin-to-skin contact, often in situations where prolonged skin-to-skin contact isn’t possible.
These reclining chairs allow parents to nurture and connect with their premature baby more fully during this precious time, helping both parent and child feel comfortable, safe and supported.
How Can I Help?
“I couldn't believe when I walked into the NICU that this was happening. As I said this isn't for us at all, there's no donations or funds going towards my family. We're hoping for a bright future for my niece and a healthy future... but this is for her little friends out there that she met. It's for the families. We want to make them feel as comfortable as possible in that environment, which is so, so hard and challenging when you can't stay, you're not close by for some people. Some people are single parents going through this situation. The more that we can make that a comfortable process, the better,” said Tom.
At seven months old, Sylvie has put on weight but still requires a feeding tube. Her survival could not have been possible without the “amazing professionals” of the NICU.
“It took a village to help create and bring our baby girl into this world. Gray and I are over the moon to have our little love finally home after a long journey of 134 days in the NICU, where we watched our little brave girl, fight for her life,” said Zoe.
Baby Sylvie’s story, from trying to “weasel her little way out at 21 weeks” to today, changed her uncle Tom - igniting within him the determination to help families of premature babies like her, in whatever way he can during this scary and highly stressful time.
“Financially I don't think I'll make much of an impression or indent into changing things, but physically I know I can do something and that's running a lot of kilometres to hopefully raise awareness.... $50k is the ballpark to start with, but I think we can go a lot further than that.”
Donate to the NICU 50 Marathons 50 Days
Together, we can reach Tom’s goal of $50,000 and beyond to purchase kangaroo chairs that he hopes will be called “Sylvie chairs” in celebration of brave little Sylvie that inspired this journey, and the incredible and compassionate professionals working at the NICU that cared for her.
Tom shared, “We will also be hoping that additional donations can be provided toward much needed research to discover and develop ways to support newborns during this critical stage of their life. Any donation big or small will go a long way to achieving our goal this year and give back to the NICU.”
Thank You NICU
“I can't thank the nurses and doctors enough because the hospital actually does such amazing things to make the parents feel comfortable… not just their cheerful personality, those nurses that work overtime, but also printing off photos of your baby, putting them around, writing you letters from your child, celebrating Mother's Day, things like that,” said Tom.
“They've got gifts, they've got a lot of volunteers. We're working closely with a company called NICU Cheer which is not-for-profit… things that are going to make mum and dad happy, but also replicate what it would be like at home getting these little presents and gifts for your child. There's lots of good people out there in the world.”
Important Links
Donate to the NICU 50 Marathons 50 Days
Check out the 50 Marathons 50 Days landing page - we'll keep this updated in the weeks to come to track Tom's challenge.
Follow Tom's journey on his Instagram page, @the_price_of_running
Follow Sportitude's content with Tom on our Instagram page, @sportitude.running
Thank you sincerely for your support and generosity. Your kind donation helps make a positive difference for families of premature and critically ill babies undergoing life-saving care at the NICU.
To find out more, check out Sportitude’s full interview with Tom below.