Justine
Frangouli-Argyris
I
learned about premature babies in Lefkada 55 years ago, as my mom had harbored
two aunties with premature babies
after they had come out of the local hospital leaving their newborn in the
incubators. Thank God, the twins of my aunt Chrisavgi and the only baby boy of
my aunt Marina had survived under the medical care and with my mom’s
unconditional love. Today, they are grown-ups enjoying the gift of life.
Years later in Montreal I met the Neonatal
specialist dr. Apostolos Papageorgiou whom I interviewed many times, so I
learned everything about premature babies and incubators.
But what has made me really respect these
special neonatal units in our hospitals was the fact that our cousin Stam
Conidaris and their mother Tonia gave birth to triplets of whom two survived through
the meticulous care of the doctors and the nurses in the NICU at the Montreal
Children’s Hospital!
Eleni and Loukas today are two beautiful children no different than their brother Nikos who was born on time.
The NICU at the Montreal Children’s Hospital is
in dire need of funds though.
On November 7, 2018, join
committee members Luciano D’Iorio, Helen Wolkowicz, Karen Aziz, Samantha Singer
and Stam Conidaris at the Bell Centre to support our tiniest patients!
The Children’s Neonatal
Intensive Care Unit (NICU) accounts for a third of its beds, and cares for the
province’s sickest, tiniest babies, half of whom are born in other hospitals.
People’s support will help
to ensure the gold-standard of care in the NICU, 24 hours per day, 365 days a
year by funding the training these nurses require in the continually evolving
field of neonatal medicine.
“We have a unit that
includes 52 beds, with 900 admissions per year,” said Neonatologist Dr. Thérèse
Perreault at last year’s event. “It’s a difficult situation for parents to see
their premature babies on life support. This fund has allowed us to purchase
much needed equipment, but most of all it has contributed to education for our
staff, so we can be better prepared to treat these babies and react to
emergency situations. This level of excellent care would not be possible
without private donations, such as those coming to us from Tiny Survivors.”
TThis year, we have an ambitious
and auspicious goal; raising $77,777
for the NICU at the Montreal Children’s Hospital!
Our kids are lucky.
Thanks to the exceptional care in the NICU, my son, Laurence was able to
survive.
Born at 24 weeks and 5 days, Laurence weighed a mere 765 grams and was
barely longer than a ruler at 31
centimeters.
Despite a rather dismal
prognosis, Laurence was able to survive.
His survival would not have been possible without the help of the team at The
Children’s.
Laurence’s story is one of over 900 stories at The Children’s every year!
We are forever grateful
that 10 years later, we continue to celebrate and recognize the tireless
efforts of the Neonatal Unit.
We truly hope you can join us for a wonderful evening of food,
drink, silent auctions, and raffles, with EMCEE’s Catherine Verdon-Diamond
& Elias Makos of CityTV’s BT Breakfast Television.
New this year! A limited quantity of VIP tickets
available which include a unique private tour of the Bell Centre prior to the
cocktail. Only 27 tickets available at $200 – get yours now!
Show your support for our
littlest patients by sponsoring the Tiny Survivors event!
MAIN PARTNER
$8,000
COLLABORATING PARTNER
$4,000
To receive a sponsorship
package and more details on how you can help, please contact
Alessia - 514-934-4846
#29237.
You can also show your
support by donating prizes for our auction or raffle.
To find out more, please contact Maria.
You can also join our presenting sponsor in supporting Tiny Survivors.
We have a variety of sponsorship opportunities available for you. Feel free to
message me for more details.
Looking forward to seeing you again this year!
