Kelly has a crucial role at Plunket – Head of Fundraising. She leads Plunket’s fundraising team to ensure Plunket’s services can continue.
Kelly believes strongly in what Plunket does, but her fundraising ‘why’ is rooted in an incredible personal experience.
At Kelly’s 20-week ultrasound, she was excited to find out whether she was having “an All Black or a Black Fern”. She was delighted to learn that she’d be having a little girl.
But then her world turned upside down – the scan also revealed that her baby had a potentially fatal heart condition, Tricuspid Atresia (in layman’s terms, half a heart). Kelly prepared herself to do whatever it took to ensure her baby survived.
When little Quinn was born, she was rushed away for countless tests and to be closely monitored. In those early days, they dealt with a lot medically. Then, at just six weeks of age, Quinn very nearly died in the night and was rushed into emergency open-heart surgery. To make an unbelievably tough situation even worse, shortly after the operation Kelly received a phone call with news from her neighbour: a truck had crashed through their house. The whānau was effectively homeless.
Kelly was quickly able to find another place to live, in a different suburb.
But despite all the heart health and home stressors, it ended up being a very ‘ordinary’ issue that had the biggest impact on Kelly and Quinn - silent reflux. Something many parents can relate to.
“Because of that reflux, Quinn stopped wanting to eat at four weeks old so she was fitted with a feeding tube. It consumed my whole life,” says Kelly. “I had to feed her every hour, day and night, through the tube, for her to keep it down. Neither of us got much sleep in those early months. There was a lot of vomit. I really felt like every time I put milk down the tube, it came back up … usually all over me!“
Feeding ‘heart babies’ is especially important for their ability to develop. So even when Kelly wasn’t feeding her, she was calculating how much milk she’d managed to keep down and agonising about whether she was growing enough.
“I felt like the world was on my shoulders: her health, her survival, everything. It all weighed down on me, emotionally.”
Kelly had friends who were extremely supportive, but as she’d had to unexpectedly move away from them (remember the truck crashing into the house?!). She felt very alone in her new suburb on a day-to-day level – as do a lot of parents who find themselves at home all day with a baby.
“When my first Plunket nurse visited, I must have looked a mess. I was beyond exhausted, dealing with Quinn’s feeding schedule alone and constantly worried about her growth and if she was progressing ‘normally.’...She just looked at me and said: “Kelly, that baby looks as healthy as any of the other babies that I’m seeing. I promise you, you're doing a good job.”
That’s a moment Kelly has never forgotten.
She didn’t realise how badly she had craved that reassurance. The Plunket nurse made her see that she was doing really well looking after Quinn.
During that same visit, Kelly’s Plunket nurse also connected her to something she didn’t have the capacity to build herself in a new home and suburb with a post-op, high-needs baby: community. The Plunket nurse connected Kelly to an amazing group of local women in her new suburb and the very next day, a beautiful māmā came to visit. Her simple act of cuddling Quinn so that Kelly could go to the bathroom alone, have a warm shower and a hot cup of tea meant the world.
“Over the next few months, that group of amazing women wrapped around me like my very own safety blanket,” says Kelly. “They checked in regularly, brought clothes for Quinn, made me meals, or just sat and held her while chatting with me. It may have seemed like small acts, but they made me feel connected and human, which I really needed.”
Kelly’s Plunket nurse saw her desperation (even if she didn’t) and acted fast. She connected Kelly to an amazing, supportive group in her new surrounds. Kelly may have been Quinn’s ‘safety blanket’, but this Plunket community quickly became Kelly’s.
Imagine being able to see another new parent go from desperate and scared to connected and cared for, so that they can be their very best for their child, under any circumstance.
That’s Kelly’s ‘why’.
Wraparound care from Plunket helps new parents, like Kelly, feel as supported and as loved as their wee ones. It’s something Plunket has been providing whānau in Aotearoa New Zealand for over a century. Because we know that when we’re there for parents, when and how they need us most, their precious babies can have the best possible start in life.
Please consider making a Christmas donation. Your gift will wrap care, connection and community around a whānau this holiday season.
Kelly, Quinn and Santa in hospital following one of Quinn's heart surgeries