FACT FILE
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
WHAT: The Light as a Feather Masquerade Ball.
WHEN: Saturday, October 22, at 6pm.
WHERE: Country Club Tasmania.
COST: $130 a person or $1250 for table of 10.
AS A premature baby, Byron Rush fought to survive his first month.
Now aged two, Byron was in the neo-natal intensive care unit at the Royal Hobart Hospital for his first 11 weeks before he was transferred home to Launceston General Hospital.
Throughout that time his mother, Katie Elphinstone, of Norwood, said she relied on the internet to understand what was going on.
"I didn't know anything, it was just really overwhelming. All I could smell was the ICU, all I could see were all the wires, all the blips, all the sounds," Ms Elphinstone said.
"The doctors and nurses used a lot of jargon ... It was just very scary and daunting because it was all so unknown."
Now that Byron is happy and healthy his mother is focused on giving more information and support to parents of sick and premature babies.
Ms Elphinstone has launched a Tasmanian chapter of Life's Little Treasures, a foundation providing resource packs, support groups, a 24-hour help line and ongoing practical assistance to families of sick children.
She is organising a masquerade gala ball at Country Club Tasmania on October 22 in support of the organisation.
Special guests will include Mel and James, from the My Kitchen Rules television program.
- JODIE STEPHENS