Why a Calgary mom walks at Sport Chek’s Mother’s Day fundraiser

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Katie Fraser says Sport Chek’s annual Mother’s Day Run, Walk and Wheel event plays an important role in her family’s life.

Fraser, now a mother of two, said it is hard to believe her daughter, Scarlett Fowler, weighed just 680 grams when she was born prematurely. “She is an absolute light. She is incredibly bright, creative, kind and doesn’t mind telling you what she thinks.”

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Fraser credits the Calgary Health Foundation for being instrumental in supporting his family at a very important time in their lives.

That’s why they’re participating in the Mother’s Day event, in its 47th year, which supports Canadian Tire Jumpstart Charities and the Calgary Health Foundation.

“In fact, it was the first real event I was able to do with Scarlett because of her prematurity and the complications that came with it. She was on oxygen for a few months, so it was very difficult to do the normal day to day things that a new mom would normally love to do.”

Fraser said they were able to connect with other NICU families at the event, and it was her first Mother’s Day spent with other mothers celebrating similar journeys.

Unable to hold back her tears, the grateful mother said the NICU facilities are one of the most underrated and underdiscovered parts of the hospital and medicine in general.

“Unless you know someone who has been touched by the NICU, involved in the NICU or needed the NICU, they are really an unknown compared to ICUs, emergency medicine and things like that.

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“For me, it was one of those things where I had no prior experience with the NICU; He didn’t know what the trip to the NICU would be like, but he had never been as grateful to have the NICU in Foothills as he was the day Scarlett was born.”

For Fraser and her family, raising awareness is key because she says it provides knowledge, exposure and opportunities to families who have premature babies.

“What the NICU needs is opportunity, and that’s through funding, research, medicine and different resources in the Foothills,” he said. “That’s what it means to me: Through exposure, these little babies are given opportunities.”

Sport Chek Mother’s Day Run, Walk and Roll 2024

This year’s event is scheduled for Sunday at the Chinook Center, starting at 7:30 a.m.

“Multiple generations of a family will walk together because they feel closely connected to either of our two amazing charities (the Calgary Health Foundation or Canadian Tire Jumpstart), so we have many groups that will have grandma, mom and grandchild in the stroller. all walking together,” said Brittany Schussler, associate vice president of integrated planning at Sport Chek.

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The sense of unity and support from other moms participating in the event is especially meaningful to Fraser.

“For me, Mother’s Day, since Scarlett was born, was simply the opportunity to be a mother, to continue to watch these two girls grow and thrive,” she said.

“It reminds me of all the feelings of the NICU and how lucky I am to be able to be a mother and continue to be a mother. Being a mom is incredibly difficult, even on a good day. So when you have a baby in the NICU, it’s even more challenging, and the Sport Chek walk and run is just a celebration of that.

“If you have 10 people in your life, there’s a good chance that 20 percent of them need your support. In Alberta, two in 10 women give birth prematurely and require NICU services, like Foothills, and I think that will impact their life at some point. It certainly touched ours.”

There are 5,000 participants registered for this year’s event, with approximately $40,000 raised as of Thursday afternoon.

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