Calling all Superheroes!!
This May, Baby Sensory and Toddler Sense classes across Australia will be running special Superhero Senseathon classes, raising funds to support the vital work of our Australian partner charity, the Miracle Babies Foundation.
Every year in Australia around 48,000 newborn babies require the help of a NICU or Special Care Nursery (SCN).
27,000 of these babies are born premature and sadly over 1,000 babies lose their fight for life every year.
We would love for you to be part of something special in helping families through these extraordinarily challenging times.
What is the Superhero Senseathon?
In May 2024 babies, toddlers and their carers will be donning their Superhero capes and raising funds and awareness for babies born early – it’s Superhero babies and toddlers supporting other Superhero babies and toddlers.
The Sun has been stolen by the evil Saby Bensory and a team of intrepid Superhero babies and toddlers are needed to save the day!
The Superhero themed ‘Senseathon’ will be a wonderful and fun event and all participants (babies, toddlers and even parents!) are encouraged to come dressed as their favourite Superhero.
Funds raised by the event will go to the Miracle Babies Foundation’s support services, including in-hospital family support services, out of hospital play and support groups, online support groups for regional and rural area and a 24-hour family support line.
With over 10,000 families participating in the Superhero Senseathon across Australia and New Zealand we are hoping to beat our fundraising totals from 2019 and 2022 and raise even more to support families across Australia.
Families can find out more about how they can get involved in their closest Superhero Senseathon event by contacting their local Baby Sensory or Toddler Sense class leader.
Who are the Miracle Babies Foundation?
The Miracle Babies Foundation is Australia’s leading not for profit organisation supporting premature and sick newborns, their families and the hospitals that care for them. The experience of having a baby born premature or sick can be life-changing and it affects the entire family.
Babies born premature can go on to face lifelong challenges including disabilities, developmental and behavioural challenges. Parents of babies born premature are also at increased risk of post-natal depression, anxiety and PTSD. Miracle Babies Foundation provides peer, emotional support to families, providing confidence and reassurance, to achieve better long-term outcomes for the entire family.
To find out more about the Miracle Babies Foundation and their work visit their website –www.miraclebabies.org.au.
How you can get involved
National fundraising raffle
From April through to the end of June we will be holding a national online fundraising raffle with an amazing pool of prizes up for grabs worth over $4,000!
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Raffle tickets cost just $10 each with some amazing prizes to win and can be purchased by anyone (except NT and ACT), so please share this link with your family and friends.
All prizes have been donated or sourced by wonderful businesses from across Australia and we thank them so much for their support 😊
Tickets in the National raffle will be on sale from 1st April 2024 - please click below to purchase -
ACT fundraising raffle
Due to differing raffle legislation across the country we are unable to sell tickets in our national raffle in the ACT.
Therefore, we have set up a very special raffle just for residents and our Baby Sensory families in the ACT with an amazing pool of prizes up for grabs worth over $2,000!
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Raffle tickets cost just $10 each with some amazing prizes to win and can be purchased by anyone in ACT only, so please share this link with your family and friends who are located in the ACT.
All prizes have been sourced from or donated by wonderful businesses from across the ACT and we thank them so much for their support 😊
For more details about all the prizes, and to purchase tickets, please follow the link below –
Tickets in the ACT raffle will be on sale from 1st April 2024 - please click below to purchase -
How else can you show your support and help raise funds for the Miracle Babies Foundation
Online fundraising and will be held before and during the Superhero Senseathon event in May, with a donation page for Baby Sensory and Toddler Sense participants, their friends, and their families to donate to the Senseathon event.
The donation page will be available from early April through to the end of June here - Baby Sensory Senseathon - Miracle Babies
You can choose your local state team to support or simply make a donation via the page.
Families can also make a cash donation in person at the ‘Senseathon’ classes during May.
Where will the money go?
All money raised will go directly to the Miracle Babies Foundation to be used toward supporting families who have a premature or sick newborn through the Miracle Babies NurtureProgram. The program is globally recognised within the Neonatal Field and consists of;
- NurtureLine: A national 24-hour family support line.
- NurtureTime: In-hospital parent to parent support, facilitated by Miracle Babies Support Team Members who have also had a NICU experience themselves.
- NurtureGroup: Out-of-hospital play and support groups for families to connect with others who have been through a similar experience.
Meet one of our Baby Sensory Superhero babies ...... Baby Jack
Jack at 24 weeks
Jack aged 1 year
Jack aged 4.5 years
Miracle Mum Leah went from a rather uneventful pregnancy to being told she was in labour and her 24 week old baby would arrive within hours.
When Jack was born he was diagnosed with chronic neonatal lung disease (which was his biggest issue the whole time), MRSA, sepsis, a collapsed lung and pneumonia, as well as several other serious medical issues. Because of his severely underdeveloped lungs and the subsequent issues he was intubated and his family nearly lost him.
Jack finally went home after 116 days in the NICU, on oxygen and with a NG tube for feeding. By his first birthday he had thrived and other than needing some help gaining weight was hitting all of his milestones and oxygen free.
Jack is now a happy 4.5 year old little boy who loves living near the beach, swimming and fishing with his dad.
He is now an amazingly kind and caring big brother to his baby sister Lily and he loves going to daycare, where he has developed his language and social skills immensely.
Since birth Jack has suffered from oral Sensory issues making it incredibly difficult to get him to eat basic solid foods other than a small set of staple food items. As well as this he has always had a language delay and developed a stutter.
However his family continue to work with our amazing team of feeding and speech therapists to work on decreasing Jack's oral Sensory issues as well as his stutter.
Jack is an ever curious and happy little boy who continues to amaze us and he will always be his family's Miracle baby.
