SUPER-PARENTS on a mission, Renee and Glenn Atkinson's charity drive - 'Glenn's Push from the Bush' to walk 260-odd km's from Orange to Sydney - has surged to a monstrous $200,000, which means the Orange area will be able to provide babies with state-of-the-art medical equipment that its never had before.
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"The hard part was raising the money, so now that the pressure is off there ... I'm just pumped and ready to go," Mr Atkinson said.
After the premature birth of their girls, 10-month-old twins Ellie and Zoe in early 2021, Glenn Atkinson's holy grail has been to raise $65,000 - for the Running for Premature Babies Foundation - to score new, life-saving medical equipment for both the Orange Health Service and Royal Women's Hospital in Randwick, to support babies born earlier than expected.
"For people in regional areas - who have to travel to metro-based hospitals for access to special care like we did - for this kind of medical equipment, it's unheard of. But now we'll have that right here in Orange," he said.
Between community support from thousands of people - and a hefty government grant of $50,000 - the mass of donations have iced the couples' fundraising cake; a recipe made up of pure grit, generosity, and determination.
Though, from the drive's conception mid-last year, donations have since surpassed the goal by $135,000.
"One of the specialists in Orange named a monitor upgrade for a few thousand-dollars, and after we ran sponsored hat auctions that went off, I called him and said 'mate, this drive has absolutely taken off ... you're going to have to get a bit greedier'," he laughed.
Currently, even metropolitan-based Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICU) - such as the Royal Women's Hospital in Sydney - have limited numbers of medically-advanced equipment for pre-term bubs, which means the money raised for new equipment will be technological game-changers for Orange.
Kicked-off in Orange on Monday, January 3, Mr Atkinson will push a Valco double pram some 260km from Orange, all the way to Randwick in Sydney.
For health and road safety-related reasons, planned walks in Orange, Bathurst and Lithgow areas will make up the kilometres, before trekking the rest of the way along the highway from Blackheath to Sydney.
Decked out in sponsored attire and merchandise - quite literally from head to toe - Mr Atkinson will have rest periods in-between the days of searing heat, where pit-stop accommodation, including pharmaceutical packs, have been generously donated in the super-dad's quest to complete the monster marathon challenge.
"With the overwhelming generosity and support of the community - and with [Phil] Donato getting the [Minister] Hazzard application over the line for $50k - to know that we kicked this challenge off because of our challenging experience and to see where it's at now, I mean ... it's getting emotional, definitely," Mr Atkinson said.
"It was such a tough time - the rounds of IVF, Renee's pregnancy, back and forth between the city and country hospitals, the time after the girls were born - what we endured as a family to actually have a family ... was so difficult; it was an absolutely enormous time for our hearts."
While the Royal Hospital for Women in Randwick will see the addition of a state of the art humidicrib - an insulated incubator to regulate babies' body temperature - the Orange Hospital will see the addition of advanced medical equipment such as a resusication cot, a neuro-monitoring 'BabyLux' machine, and a 'BabyLeo' humidicrib - items ranging from $35,000 to $90,000 - of which the regional city has never had access to before.
"The BabyLeo is like the 'Rolls-Royce' of humidi-cribs, they're about the closest thing you can get to the womb," said Mr Atkinson.
"Nearing the finish line in Sydney, I think I might just burst into tears," he added.
"The reality is, it's going to make a significant difference for pre-term babies in Orange, and how good is that going to be?"
To keep updated on the marathon in the days ahead, head to the Running for Premature Babies Foundation website or 'Glenn's Push from the Bush' page on Facebook.
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