Burden of child loss eased thanks to heartfelt donation

The Ingham Health Service has been personally handed the gift of time thanks to a generous Cuddle Cot donation from Whitsunday locals Joey Shapcott and partner Rob Vuk.

Joey and Rob said their heartfelt donation stemmed from a personal experience with a Cuddle Cot, which is a special-made cot with an inbuilt cooling system that allows families to have extra time with their little ones after a stillbirth.

“I was 38.5 weeks pregnant when I went into labour and lost my little girl, Emma Rose Vuk,” Joey said.

“It was a terrible time for both of us, but when she was born we were incredibly lucky to have a cuddle cot provided to us at the Proserpine Hospital.

“We had time with her that we wouldn’t normally get to have and got to say goodbye to her surrounded by family, which was so important for us.”

Joey said she had organised the donation through pregnancy loss and infant support organisation Bears of Hope.

“My initial plan was to be able to purchase some bears from Bears of Hope and donate these bears to families who had lost a child,” Joey said.

“We were given two Bears of Hope when we lost Emma and it gave us a lot of comfort, because it meant we didn’t have to leave hospital empty handed.

“However, within a couple of days of us starting a social media fundraiser we reached over two thousand dollars and it was at that point we thought, ‘why not aim for the stars?’”

“We ended up raising four thousand dollars in two weeks, and that’s when we got a call from Rob’s aunty who bumped it up to the six-and-a-half thousand dollars needed for a cuddle cot; she really wanted to put the money towards a good cause.”

Joey said it was often hard for people to talk about stillbirths due to the stigma that surrounded it; however, she was determined to advocate for a more peaceful journey for other families.
“We didn’t know the Cuddle Cot existed until we suddenly needed it,” Joey said.

“We want other families to have the gift of time that we were given.

“The special part is that we’ve been able to personally present it to the Ingham Health Service as well; it feels like it’s come full circle that way, one family from a small town helping future families in another small town.”

Ingham Health Service Midwifery Group Practice team leader Virginia Meyjes said the heartfelt donation would help ease the burden of pregnancy loss for local families.

“While no one ever hopes to use the Cuddle Cot, we know that it will be a solace to grieving families in the future,” Virginia said.

“We are sorry for the loss that has prompted the family to be so generous and we are tremendously grateful to the family and everything they, and their community, have done.

“We know that small, tight-knit communities feel the acute impact of pregnancy loss really strongly, so we think it’s a heart-warming gesture – from one community to another.”