Adam Prudhomme
Editor
After experiencing the pain and grief of losing a child, Tamara Spearing wanted to make sure no mom ever felt like they had to go through it alone.
Fuelled by that passion, as well as wanting to honour the memory of her daughter, the Napanee mom launched The Gwen Effect Foundation.
Named after her daughter, the foundation’s purpose is to raise funds for the medical research of premature births while also being a resource for families dealing with the complications that can come from one.
Spearing’s journey began in 2019 during what had been an otherwise routine pregnancy.
“My daughter Gwendolyn was born at 28-and-a-half weeks old, so she was considered extremely preemie,” said Spearing. “With that came a lot of different complications, like a brain bleed, premature lungs, she also had a complex diagnosis, which is an esophageal atresia. Being a first time mom this was very overwhelming, especially because I didn’t really have a complicated pregnancy at all. It was straight forward, healthy pregnancy up until that point of giving birth, two-and-a-half months early.”
What followed was 170 days spent in hospitals between Kingston General Hospital and Sick Kids in Toronto, 15 specialists working on her case and four surgeries. Tragically in April of last year, Gwendolyn passed away.
Shortly after the initial diagnosis, Spearing began documenting her journey as a medical mom on social media.
“Not many people talk about premature pregnancy and what comes with it and what can happen. Learning about that and going through that was a very hard time as a mother and for my family as well,” said Spearing. “When Gwendolyn died, my platform kind of went from a medical mom to now a mother who has lost her child. I talk a lot about my healing journey as well as transforming my grief and turning my pain into a purpose by helping others.”
In the days after Gwen’s passing, Spearing encouraged friends and family to share photos of sunflowers with the hash tag Gwen Effect as a way of sharing her story. Little did she know her story would resonate with families around the globe.
“In the summer time I loved to garden and Gwendolyn did too,” said Spearing. “There were sunflowers that grew wild and sunflowers symbolize strength through sunshine and rain and the stem is very sturdy and the petals are beautiful and I also considered Gwendolyn to be that. I started asking people around the world, if you see a sunflower, hash tag the Gwen Effect. This started a crazy movement and we had people in the United Kingdom, people in the States, all around the world sending us these #TheGwenEffect.”
That inspired Spearing to continue to share her story, tackling a topic that can often be swept under the rug. She continues to document her journey on Instagram (@diaryofamedicalmama) while also producing a podcast on YouTube known as The Gwen Effect. She plans to welcome medical experts and parents to the show for a raw, unfiltered talk about the realities of what can happen as a result of a premature birth.
“Our mission is to empower women and families through sunshine and rain,” said Spearing. “What we focus on is raising critical funds that advance research care and treatment for premature infants. We also focus on children and youths who have received one or more medical diagnosis, but really focusing on as well the family and parents.”
She knows all too well what a diagnosis can feel like for a parent of a young child.
“When something like that happens you feel so alone and so isolated,” said Spearing. “I guess that’s kind of the perspective behind the foundation. I don’t ever want somebody to feel like that again or feel like how I felt, so lost and so alone.”
Last fall the foundation delivered 15 ‘boxes of sunshine’, packed with self-care items, to medical moms of children who were seeking treatment or had passed away. They plan to do the same this spring to families of children receiving care at KGH’s cancer clinic.
Spearing says the community has been very supportive of her cause and she’s working on having the foundation registered as an official charity in the very near future.
Donations to the Gwen Effect can be made through GwenEffect@gmail.com.