JESS Lang wants to start running again and will do so to honour her daughter Charlie.
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Each step Jess will take in preparation will push for greater research into Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.
Jess’ healthy baby Charlie died, aged 20 weeks, last year in her sleep.
Running is something Jess has not done for more than two years, before the birth of her daughter Charlie, but now she will run for Charlie.
Jess and her fundraising channel Charlie’s Chapter is partnering with Geelong-based charity River’s Gift, the largest source of non-government funding for SIDS research in Australia.
And they are calling on this city to train with them for Run Ballarat as part of their Stamp Out SIDS.
River’s Gift will host a 12-week professional training program for anyone to be ready for Run Ballarat’s six-kilometre or 12km events on October 23.
“When Charlie first passed away I got in contact with Alex (River’s Gift co-founder Alex Hamilton) and I learnt about River’s Gift,” Jess said. “We’ve been doing fundraising with Flamingos and Foxes (her nursery décor business) for SIDS and have changed our focus to River’s Gift. I’ve always wanted to do more for research and this is perfect for us.”
River’s Gift has been wanting to expand its running programs into regional cities for awhile. Jess will help be the organisation’s driving force in Ballarat. Her parents are also signing up to train for the 6km run.
Alex Hamilton and Karl Waddell founded River's Gift in November 2011 after losing their son River to SIDS. River was 128 days old. River’s Gift promotes SIDS research in a partnership with The Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Heath and Harvard Medical School.
“The Ballarat program will mainly be about Charlie – River’s Gift and all the work we’re going will just sit in behind it,” Mr Waddell said.
“We learned four years ago when we lost River there wasn’t a lot of SIDS research and we wanted to put positive change to that. This is one of the ways we can really fund world leading research, through running.”
Details: riversgift.com. Flamingos and Foxes donate $5 from milestone blocks sold to River’s Gift, facebook.com/Flamingosandfoxes