By Brendan Rees
George his wife Maria Mihos remember the precious moment they welcomed their firstborn into the world.
But what happened in the next 21 hours would be forever etched in their hearts and minds.
Born prematurely at 23 weeks and three days, Haralambos Harrison weighed just 660 grams. He was in a critical condition and by the next afternoon he had passed away on 12 December, 2012.
“We’re never going to get an answer as to why he passed away,” Maria says.
“From what we were told, I may have had the Strep B strain which is a virus that is within many pregnant women but unfortunately for us it may’ve also brought on the sudden early birth of Harrison and his subsequent infection.”
In the hours that followed after Harrison’s passing was a moment Maria and George recall as a “bittersweet memory.”
“A nurse, at a hospital we wish not to name, had offered to bring our baby to us rather than going to the hospital morgue,” Maria explained.
“We were thankful for the offer however when our son was delivered in a dark black fully zipped up portable handheld pram bassinet-style freezer bag; we were shocked to say the least.
Maria said the nurse left the zipped up bag at the foot of her bed, and told they had 10 to 15 minutes with Harrison before they would have to give him back.
Maria looked at her husband and then back at the bag: “I slowly unzipped the bag to see our precious boy laying peacefully in the outfit we had placed him in after his first and final bath we had given him just a few short hours before.
The time that we had had with him was just rushed with me wanting to take photos, trying to block out the black bag,” Maria said.
Following their heartbreaking loss, and as part of their own healing process, Maria went on to do a lot of research into infant death and came across an invaluable support resource called a Cuddle Cot, proudly supported by the charity organisation, Bears of Hope.
“The Cuddle Cot is a cooling system designed to fit within a small cot and lies beneath the baby,” Maria explained.
“It enables bereaved families to keep their baby close and create beautiful memories, spending as much uninterrupted time as they wish before saying their final goodbye without the worry or stress of handing their baby back to hospital staff to be cooled in the traditional cooling room environment.”
“It has been our wish to embark on this fundraiser as the Cuddle Cot unfortunately was not made available to us in our time of need however a busy life over the last six years including the arrival of our three rainbows, Connor Konstantinos George, aged five; Nina Mersina, aged three-and-a-half; and Louis Lambros aged two – all of which were difficult pregnancies has seen it postpone a number of times,” Maria said.
It was just four months after Harrison’s passing that Maria fell pregnant with Connor via IVF again. Told she had an “incompetent cervix,” she was bedridden in hospital and monitored closely from 24 weeks pregnant.
Connor was then born at 27 weeks, and spent 86 days in the NICU and Special Care Nursery, during which he overcame the odds, and went home fit and healthy.
While they have had their hands full, over the past six years their memories of Harrison have remained a constant.
Wanting to do something to honour their son’s memory with a lasting legacy, the opportunity came in last August where they started this fundraising initiative to buy Cuddle Cots for hospitals to help “the healing process from the beginning for the next bereaved family in need.”
Today, they have raised an amazing $14,361.00 and rising thanks to 82 donors and donated their first Cuddle Cot on 13 December last year to St Vincent’s Private in Fitzroy. Following their first presentation, George and Maria received one particular $6,000 straight up donation made at the end of last year from the family of the Late Mrs Mary Banks which was donated and presented to St John of God Berwick Hospital on Thursday 14 March. This generous donation was made extra special as George Mihos, a long-standing employee of Hansen Yuncken who also worked as a Bid Manager on the tender process of the construction of the newly built hospital.
Director of maternity services at St John of God Berwick Hospital, Allison Merrigan said the Cuddle Cot was a generous donation and would help comfort families in need.
“We are incredibly grateful that in their time of grief that they were able to think of us and help other families,” she said.
To donate to this special cause please visit https://cuddlecot.gofundraise.com.au/page/MariaMihos0
