Harding and his wife Stacey are strong supporters of the Life's Little Treasures Foundation following their own experience with premature birth after their daughter Milla arrived 13 weeks early last October.
“It all happened so quickly for us,” Harding explained.
“We just went for a checkup after Stacey started feeling unwell. She had a puffy face and was just a bit off and the special knew something wasn’t right. Next minute her blood pressure was through the roof and we were in an ambulance on our way to the Monash Medical Centre.”
Stacey had pre-eclampsia, a life-threatening disorder which occurs during pregnancy.
“It can have an impact on the amount of nutrients that are getting through to the fetus and can be very serious for mother and child,” Harding said.
“Stacey had an injection to lower her blood pressure and steroids to help strengthen and develop Milla’s lungs. They were trying to buy us as much time as possible before having to perform an emergency Cesarean.”
However, they could only delay the inevitable by 12 hours.
“Milla was born and weighed just 639 grams. The way I try and relate that to people is by telling them to imagine a 600ml Coke bottle. She looked about as big as one of those. Maybe a little bit longer but about as wide and heavy obviously.”
Thousands of women and babies die or get very sick each year from pre-eclampsia and raising awareness of the medical condition and other complications associated with premature and sick babies has become an aim of Leigh and Stacey.
“We’re taking part in the ‘Walk for Prems’ in October which designed to help raise awareness and money.”
Milla will celebrate her first birthday on October 12 and Harding says he often thinks about her birth and what could have been.
“Every day was touch and go, anything could have happened and we were so lucky things turned out the way they did. Some families aren’t as fortunate and that’s why the Life's Little Treasures Foundation is so important.”
To mark the start of International Premmie Month (November), Life’s Little Treasures Foundation will stage Walk for Prems events in Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide, Perth, Canberra and Launceston.
Refer to lifeslittletreasures.org.au or phone 1300 697736 for details on the event nearest to you.
To help Leigh, Stacey and Milla raise money, click here
