Sarah Henderson (Corangamite, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is my great pleasure to rise and celebrate the incredible work of River's Gift, which was founded by Alex Hamilton and Karl Waddell, the parents of River, who tragically died of sudden infant death syndrome in November 2011. Alex and Karl and their two other children live in Geelong, in my electorate of Corangamite, and they have made all of our community incredibly proud of the efforts that they have taken to promote the importance of research into SIDS and to raise money. River's Gift has now raised almost $1 million. It has evolved into a global movement, with many thousands of supporters across the world. Alex and Karl were declared world ambassadors at a recent SIDS conference in Scotland, and they are doing incredible work.

One of the very important pieces of research funded by River's Gift involves the University of Adelaide, which has uncovered a developmental abnormality in babies—especially in premature babies and boys—that for the first time is directly linked to cases of sudden infant death syndrome. Researchers believe that this abnormality in the brain's control of head and neck movement, breathing, heartbeat and the body's responses to deprivation of oxygen supply could be the reason why some babies sleeping on their front are more at risk of SIDS. The research was conducted by Dr Fiona Bright and Professor Roger Byard of Adelaide Medical School, University of Adelaide, in collaboration with the Harvard Medical School and the Boston Children's Hospital, and investigated some 55 SIDS cases in the United States.

While the exact cause of death in SIDS has still not been identified, multiple studies have pointed to a subset of SIDS babies that are not entirely normal before death, and these infants have been found to have some sort of underlying vulnerability, exposing them to increased risk. This research work is incredibly important in uncovering the cause of SIDS, which takes the lives of some 100 babies every year across Australia. It is still a very deep issue in our community, and many families are suffering from the loss of a child through SIDS. I commend the incredible work of River's Gift. Alex and Karl, we salute you for your work for our community.