Mother of triplets sets the pace to win Australia’s first Local Premmie Hero award

Sophie Smith is an inspirational mother. After enduring the enormous personal tragedy of losing her three sons who were born prematurely in 2006, she set out to honour their memory by running a half marathon. Her aim was to raise enough money to enable the Royal Women’s Hospital in Randwick to purchase a single life-saving state-of-the-art humidicrib.

Sophie’s mission touched a chord and motivated so many people that in the last two years she, her husband Ash and their team of runners have raised over $250,000, enough to buy not just one but ten humidicribs, ensuring that many of Sydney’s tiniest and most fragile babies will benefit from this mother’s compassion for years to come.

Sophie is now being acclaimed as the winning nominee in the inaugural Local Premmie Hero awards – Australia’s first award to publicly recognise and honour the kindness and hard work of individual volunteers within the local premature baby community. These ordinary yet extraordinary people make a huge difference to the lives of families dealing with the challenges that come when their child is born too early, both during their hospital stay and beyond.

Awards were also presented to Karen Cuthbert, who lovingly sews tiny clothes for the smallest premature babies and gives them away to families around Australia, and Julie Clarke, who has been instrumental in founding support groups for parents of premature babies and helping other parents to do the same.

The Local Premmie Hero awards are the brainchild of the L’il Aussie Prems online support website and are proudly sponsored by L’il Aussie Prems and Practical Parenting magazine.

“It is an honour for us, as a community of parents, to be able to pay tribute to those people who go out of their way to make things easier for families travelling the often difficult road that premature birth can bring.” said Julia Toivonen, founder of the L’il Aussie Prems website and mother of two premature babies.