Mamamia Cares
If you are part of a charitable organisation and would like to be featured on MM
just drop us a note at info@mamamia.com.au
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This girl gets Canberra to pucker up and kiss goodbye to MS
By JANE QUICK My mum did not help me buy my wedding dress. When my daughter was born she couldn’t offer hands-on support. On a bad day I can’t ask her to make me a cup of tea and talk through my problems. As my mum has multiple sclerosis (MS) she has more bad days than I do. People who have healthy, living parents don’t know lucky they are. She was diagnosed 30 years ago just after I was born. As a kid I knew my mum had MS but was unaware how it affected her. [read more]
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‘Not getting paid – and loving it.’
by MIKE NICHOLSON If it’s true that the Australian economy has hit the skids and my industry (media) is dying, then why am I championing unpaid work? That’s because I’m talking about giving my time away to volunteer organisations that thrive on unpaid workers for their good causes. This week marks National Volunteer Week in Australia and what better time to put your volunteer hat on and get involved. My first experience with volunteering came six years ago when I signed up to be a part of a community radio station. However, I always consider this [read more]
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“Carbon Monoxide killed my kids.”
BY VANESSA ROBINSON Three years ago I lived every parent’s nightmare when I lost my two sons to carbon monoxide poisoning. I want to share some information that will hopefully prevent your family from suffering a similar tragedy. My sons Chase and Tyler were aged eight and six years at the time of their deaths in May 2010. They were normal, healthy boys living with me in our rented Shepparton home. It had never occurred to me that a silent killer could be lurking in our home. But it was – in the form of a gas [read more]
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‘My youngest sister was cutting herself. So I made her run.’
by MELINDA HIATT I still remember the first time mum told me my youngest sister Courtney was cutting herself. I was pretty shocked and a little puzzled about why she would be doing such a thing. I am the eldest of three girls and Courtney is 13 years younger than me. I was at her birth and even cut her umbilical cord so to think of this beautiful baby and gorgeous toddler as a troubled teenager was something I would never have expected. It seemed to me at the time that the source of the self-harming [read more]
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Little Miracles for premature babies.
By KATE WALTHER The night my daughter was born I couldn’t look at her. I heard her tiny cry, like a lost kitten, and saw her miniature 1 kg frame and turned my head away, shocked at how fragile she was. How my body had failed her at just 26 weeks gestation. Luckily, she was born fighting. So many times in her 4 month stay in the NICU we would hear the mantra from her doctors and nurses – 2 steps forward, 1 step back. It was a warning to expect turbulence, even when things seemed good, but [read more]
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These mothers and daughters need your help.
By DR. JULIA NEWTON-HOWES Could you tell a mother like Bophu to wait a year before you can help her provide her daughters with healthy, nutritious food all year around? No, nor could I. But we might have to. Bophu and her husband Lojeuw live in the remote mountains of northern Laos with their two daughters – two-year-old Teuyu* and Dupeu* who is less than a month old. Foreign aid is helping them and other families around the world to lift themselves out of poverty and to give their daughters a chance at a life that we take [read more]
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Why cancer research is important this Mother’s Day
By DAVID ARCHER May 2011 was the very last Mother’s Day my children ever celebrated with their mother. Two months later we said our last goodbye. Now two years have passed and time has perhaps softened our pain… but only a little bit. This is Danielle’s story. This is my family’s story. Danielle and I first met at the end of 1995. She was 20 years old. I was 26, and I worshipped her. We were married less than four years later and started our life together by settling into the lower Blue Mountains. We had [read more]
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This Mother’s Day, send hope, not twin sets.
By JULIE ULBRICHT I never look at junk mail, because it’s called that for a reason. However, for the first time in a very long time, I recently flicked through the Mother’s Day edition of a certain department store and smiled/sighed as I saw pastel twin sets as an idea. I mean, they were lovely, but not really the most inspired gift (read: Dear all, Do not buy me a pastel twin set, ever). Last year, I read somewhere that paying for your mother’s liposuction is also a great and creative idea. I’ll leave you to ponder [read more]
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Every day 37 women are diagnosed with Breast Cancer. This is how you can help.
With Mother’s Day approaching, and all that this day means for many women and their families, wouldn’t “a world without breast cancer” be the best Mother’s Day gift of all? Michelle King of Gunnedah NSW thinks so. Michelle was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2006 at the age of 48. A friend “dragged” her along to BreastScreen for a routine mammogram and she thought everything would be fine. “I couldn’t believe it when they told me I had breast cancer,” said Michelle. “I was healthy and there was no history of it in my family.” [read more]
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“Those were the last words my son would say to me.”
In Australia, at least six children die each year from drowning in backyard swimming pools. Drowning is the most common cause of preventable death for children under the age of five. The NSW and Victorian Governments have recently implemented policies, which require pool owners to register online so they can be inspected. It is stories like Tammie’s, about the drowning of her son Jack, that are the reason why. By TAMMIE LACEY I am the proud mum of three beautiful children. Sadly seven years ago, on the 5th April 2006, my life was shattered into a [read more]
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When your child is diagnosed with meningitis…
by JANE DANZI April 3 1996 changed our lives forever, it is the day that we lost our hopes and dreams as first time parents and started a completely new journey. Our little boy was 5 ½ months old and developing normally. One morning he woke up very late and something was not right, his eyes just stared at me and when I picked him up he cried in pain. I changed his nappy and there was blood in his nappy. After an initial panic we took him to the doctor who, after consultation with a paediatrician, [read more]
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What do you think when you hear the words ‘sponsor child’? We bet it isn’t this.
By ALEX BRUCE-SMITH What comes to mind when you hear (or read) the words ‘sponsor a child’? Is it sad music? A shot of wide eyed children staring meekly at you through your television screen? Are you flooded with guilt that UNLESS YOU DO SOMETHING, THESE KIDS WILL STARVE? Yeah, me too. And that’s why it’s so refreshing to talk about sponsoring children in a way that is, well, positive. It seems like there’s enough terrible things happening around the world that when we see something joyful, we should celebrate it. It’s this attitude that the [read more]
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You can help keep Australian children safe, and all it will take is 10 minutes
AUSTSWIM and Royal Life Saving are seeking the community’s views on children’s swimming and water safety skills in a new survey. The survey will enhance our understanding of Swimming and Water Safety programs for children aged 5–14 years old. A main focus of the survey will be the accessibility, affordability and effectiveness of swimming and water safety programs for children aged 5–14. The survey will also determine just how well children develop their swimming and water safety skills. Parents will also have the opportunity to comment on factors affecting their choice of swim school and instructor [read more]
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The children of the Philippines need your help.
This post is from the team at ICARE. This is a Student Portrait of Shama Grace Aguilar of Sudipen, La Union. “When I grow up, my dream is that I would be a teacher because I would love to inspire other children and help my family.” These are the simple words of Shama Grace Aguilar, a 9-year-old Grade 5 student from an Elementary School in Sudipen, La Union, when she was asked about her ambitions in life. A child supported through ICARE since she was a 1st grader, Shama Grace got the highest grade average amongst other supported students in [read more]
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How Social Networking is saving lives.
by JAIMIE DRUITT We all face challenges throughout our lives. During these times some of us have a great support network to rely on, while others aren’t so lucky. But even with family and friends rallying behind you, it is inevitable that there will still be feelings of loneliness and isolation. I knew this all too well when I was going through a relationship breakdown. I had people there for me, but they couldn’t help in the early hours as I lay awake trying to process all of the feelings, thoughts and pain. It got me thinking, there must be [read more]
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‘The world of Autism is hard. It is lonely. It is scary.’
By MICHELLE WRIGHT Imagine the heartache a parent goes through when they discover their beloved child will never be the same as all the other children at school. That they will have more difficulties and that they will be judged unfairly and harshly for behaviours out of their control. But above all, that because of this, their most beautiful and delightful attributes may potentially be overshadowed and overlooked. For 1 in 110 parents, this is what they face when they hear the diagnosis of ‘Autism’ for their child. Today is World Autism Awareness Day – you [read more]
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Let’s get men talking about their health.
By MAMAMIA TEAM It’s a shocking statistic, but scarily compared to women, Australian men are 84 percent more likely to die of cancers that are common to both. That is 6,900 more male deaths in Australia per year. Why is this? We know that lifestyle factors play a huge role in cancer risk. Up to 30% of cancers are preventable through healthy choices such as not smoking, reducing alcohol intake, exercising regularly and healthy eating. Research has proven women are better than men when it comes to talking to their friends about their health and lifestyle choices, many of which [read more]
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‘Epilepsy is my ‘thing’, but I won’t let it define me.’
By KATE GINNIVAN I was diagnosed as Epileptic at 19, but only truly accepted this label two years ago. I decided to go alone to see the neurologist; I guess it was part of the denial. I was so geared up to hear that my latest seizure was “just one of those things”, that I thought I would be jinxing myself if I went along with supporters. I don’t remember much of what was said, but I do know I walked out, got some KFC and cried between bites of my burger. That summer, I spiralled into a depression, convinced [read more]
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‘Why turn your lights out for Earth Hour?’
By KAREN KALPAGE For any parent with a young child, the answer to this question is a no brainer – it’s ‘to sneak in some sleep. I’m a parent, I’m sleep deprived. Dark: good, light: bad.’ The next common answer, I believe, would be ‘to hide from my child’. My rambunctious, cheeky son, Max, is four and sometimes we refer to him as ‘Lucifer’ or ‘Damien Omen’ (Part I, II, or III. Take your pick). Why wouldn’t we hide from him in the dark? For those that are young, newly in love, they may even answer “to get some boudoir [read more]
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Malawi: A country where just 16% of girls finish primary school.
By JANE DOWNING “You’ll be my friend, won’t you?” asked the little girl seriously as she looked up and grasped my hand. It wasn’t so much of a question as a demand, and if she hadn’t looked so serious I would have laughed. But my years of teaching had taught me never to argue with a girl on a mission so from that moment on Lonely – pronounced Ronery – and I were firm friends. But Lonely wasn’t one of my usual students. She was a child I met while volunteering for reading charity The Book Bus [read more]