About

kiera's contribution objectives

To educate and raise awareness for Group B Strep (GBS) and newborn infection by funding research and sharing our story.

To support bereaved parents and families by talking about grief, attending events and donating to relevant charitable organisations.

As part of a community foundation, we aim to support local causes and organisations in our target areas.

Kiera's Story

Kiera’s story begins on 21 August 2019 – the day we found out we were pregnant. And it was a surprise – not in the “oh we weren’t even trying” way, but the “I didn’t think we were ever going to get pregnant” way. And for the next 36 or so weeks we talked and dreamed about what this little Chi-rish (Chinese-Irish) miracle was going to look like, act like, and just be like. The pregnancy was a breeze as far as pregnancies go (without having anything to compare it to). Beyond the first few weeks of nausea, I was just blissfully putting on the pounds, feeling and watching her grow before our eyes. With every milestone, scan, swab and blood test, we were told that everything was on track, she was perfect and she’d be with us in no time. When her due date came and went, there was no concern as “many firstborns come late”. We scheduled an induction for 40 weeks and 6 days. On 3 May 2020, we loaded up the car and made our way to the hospital with great anticipation of what the next 48 hours was going to bring. The induction started early on Monday morning, the 4th of May. In honour of the date, she was this close to being named Leia. But we decided we couldn’t do that to her. After a pretty routine induction that included an epidural, Kiera was born at 4:37pm. She let out a little whimper as she was placed on my chest, her big chubby cheeks taking all the attention. She squirmed and wriggled as she was then taken to be cleaned up, pinched and prodded and given a bit of oxygen. “Some babies just need a bit of oxygen as they adjust to life outside the womb. Nothing to worry about” we were told. She was to be taken up to Special Care to get some oxygen and then brought right back to us.

Kiera spent the next five hours in Special Care. She wasn’t able to catch her breath and no one could figure out why. Blood tests, antibiotics, x-rays, oxygen, intubation, echogram – all done multiple times and without answers. Eventually her heart couldn’t handle it anymore and began to give out. After being resuscitated for some time, the doctors had to tell us the most unthinkable news – she wasn’t going to make it. 

This was the first time it had occurred to me that we might not be taking our girl home. The first time I saw her since she was born. We held her hand for as long as they would allow. And then she was gone. How did this happen?

In the weeks that followed we learned that Kiera died of Group B Streptococcus (GBS). I had done the routine swab at 36 weeks – it came back negative. 

Now, through Kiera, we are on a mission to raise awareness and hopefully affect changes to the way GBS is treated in pregnancy.

Our Story

We are Kiera’s parents – I’m Victoria from Canada and my husband is Danny from Ireland. We met while working and living in Shanghai, China in 2011 before both relocating to Sydney, Australia with our jobs in 2014. We got engaged and married in 2016 and have been living the dream since then (Danny’s words).
 
When Kiera died, we decided that in lieu of flowers, we would start a GoFundMe page and donate any money we raised to charity. To say that we were surprised with the amount of money we raised is an understatement. The overwhelming support we received from family and friends all over the world has allowed us to donate to various charities that have become close to us during these unthinkable times. In addition, we have funded a garden upgrade at our hospital where we were able to take Kiera outside for a short time, and also a piece of research that studies the rate of newborn infection with the hope to leverage the results for a large scale clinical trial. 

While identifying areas to donate our funds, we decided to start Kiera’s Contribution, in honour of Kiera, in the hopes to continue to raise money to further research in newborn infections, raise awareness for Group B Strep and support bereaved families.