Volunteering helps to heal the scars of SIDS

Gemma Collins knows the pain of losing a child. Her daughter Isla was eight months old when she contracted a rare virus and died in Princess Margaret Hospital in 2010.

After her death, Gemma and her husband Kristian were supported by SIDS and Kids, a not-for-profit organisation which helps families across the country cope with the loss of children from sudden infant death syndrome.

This experience convinced the Collins’ to become supporters for SIDS and Kids and Red Nose Day, the group’s biggest fundraiser.

Mrs Collins volunteered her time for fundraising last week while her husband is a peer-support counsellor, helping other men cope with a similar loss of a child.

“Isla had something that wasn’t preventable or treatable, ” Mrs Collins said. “We know how frustrating it can be for parents when they can’t do anything.”

Mrs Collins said SIDS and Kids, with its team of counsellors and support systems, helps to get families back on track and provide the “after-death” care they need.

Providing peer support counselling was a way her husband could pay tribute to their daughter’s life and families in the same situation as them.

“To be able to just helps make him feel like he is doing something positive, ” she said.

According to SIDS and Kids, In WA one in four pregnancies end in miscarriage, five WA babies are still born each week and 71 babies will not live past 28 days.