By Renee Wood
Healesville florist Rebecca Noble is preparing to run a half marathon for Running for Premature Babies in honour of little Toby Phillips, a baby boy who sadly died last year.
Ms Noble met Toby’s mother Jade Bastin while she was pregnant at LLB florist shop and later created the flower arrangements for Toby’s funeral.
“His story has really touched me, so I just knew that I wanted to run in honour of him,” Ms Noble said.
At 23 weeks, Toby had Preterm Premature Rupture of Membranes and he was born at 28 weeks.
Ms Bastin said due to PROM, his lungs didn’t grow properly and unfortunately they couldn’t support his growing body.
“We are so grateful to Bec for supporting such an important cause and keeping our precious baby’s memory alive,” Ms Bastin said.
Sadly, Toby never left hospital and during his treatment visitation was limited due to the Covid-19 lockdown health restrictions.
“Toby never left the hospital so sometimes it feels like nobody knew him and we are the only ones who remember him, but he touched so many people in his short life, even if only through social media,” Ms Bastin said.
“He left a huge mark on this world and we are so proud of him. Having other people remember him is one of the most important things to a grieving parent.”
Ms Noble has set herself a goal to beat a personal best of one hour and 45 minutes during the Run Melbourne half marathon on Sunday 24 July.
She shared the fundraising challenge on her business social media account and was blown away by other women reaching out to share their birth experiences.
“I think it’s something that’s not talked… lots and lots of women have contacted me and said that they’ve had miscarriages or premature births. Some of their babies are still living and it was really, really tough on their families while they were going through that…there’s also some children who have long term effects,” Ms Noble said.
“To give me motivation I’m going to write all of these babies names on my hands…so they’re going to be my motivation to keep going even if it hurts a little bit at the end.”
So far, Ms Noble has exceeded her goal of $500 for Running for Premature Babies and has reached $855 at the time of print.
The charity was set up in 2007 by Sophie Smith after she and her late husband Ash lost their triplet sons following an extremely premature birth at 24 weeks.
The funds go to neonatal research and provide lifesaving neonatal equipment to hospitals which has directly benefited over 6000 babies.
If you’d like to support the cause ahead of the Sunday 24 July marathon, visit https://runmelbourne22.grassrootz.com/running-for-premature-babies/rebecca-noble
