Tiffany’s journey with Friends
Tiffany Atze has been a volunteer with Friends Pinnaroo Division for 7 years now and this is her story on how she became a friend of Friends.
My relationship with the WCH began when our son Sebastian was born with Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia at Loxton Hospital Complex on Christmas Eve, 2014. Seb was flown by the MedStar team to the WCH in the early hours of Christmas Day and then spent over 5 months as an inpatient due to his condition and the treatments he needed. During this time, the various medical teams that cared for Seb worked tirelessly to save his life on multiple occasions and were always focussed on giving Seb the best life that he could have. Being at the hospital all but 6 days of Seb’s 164 day stay, gave me an insight into how important the WCH is to the children of SA, and I saw firsthand just how families from all walks of life rely on the WCH each year.
To be able to come home, the WCH had to restart their home Total Parenteral Nutrition (TPN) program as Seb was reliant on TPN until he was 15 months old. Home TPN at the time was not funded by state health funding and the WCH knew that they would be footing the bill for Seb’s home TPN (approx. $150k per year), but they knew it was best for Seb, and his family, for him to be home if possible.
We will always be grateful to the WCH for putting Seb’s needs before the bottom line of the hospital, and recognise the support that they need in return from the SA community to be able to provide the best care to all our children. As such, once we returned home, the Friends of the WCH gave me an opportunity to give back to the service that granted my son the best chance to live his life to the fullest.
Once we were able to bring Seb home from hospital, the Pinnaroo Auxiliary members asked me if I would like to come to one of their meetings to share about our WCH journey. I found it incredibly comforting to talk to other members of our home community who understood what it felt like to have a child in hospital for a long period and/or needing a high level of medical care. Transitioning back to home after our hospital stay was not an easy process. The Pinnaroo Auxiliary gave me a caring and supportive space during a time when we were providing care to a high medical needs baby.
After 7 years of being part of Friends of WCH, it still gives back to me as much as I give to the organisation. I love working with the other members of our Auxiliary and the sense of service I gain from our fundraising ventures, along with the knowledge of how important Friends is to the WCH, drives me to continue with our efforts each year.
Friends are always welcoming new members to join any Auxiliary group throughout the state. Click the page to find out which could be the closest division to you.