Tom Price: Why We Run

From the 9th of December 2023 to January 28th 2024 Fractel ambassador Tom Price ran 51 marathons (in a row!) for The Royal Women’s Newborn Intensive Care Unit. We’re sure you’ll agree that’s an incredible achievement, so we asked him to tell us about his ‘why’:

“My niece, Sylvie, was born at 23 weeks and 6 days, weighing 628 grams. She spent 134 days in the NICU. My sister, Zoe, overcame cervical cancer and five years of IVF to have her beautiful girl Sylvie. All of her treatment for cancer, IVF and NICU was at the Royal Women’s Hospital. I knew right away when visiting Sylvie, that I could do something. This is just the beginning for me, raising awareness through my social media and much needed funds for the NICU, hopefully every year, on some crazy ultra marathon adventure.”

Tom has gone on to raise over $122k, dedicating these funds towards kangaroo chairs, so more parents can have intimate skin to skin contact with their newborn. There were only 10 or less in the NICU, and now there are 20+ chairs. The additional funds are going towards upgrading life-saving equipment to help the families/parents that need it most.

Tom says “I was able to average 3hrs 35 per marathon and do this un-assisted in every aspect. I wanted my experience to be the complete opposite of the NICU experience, where many nurses/doctors are keeping our little fragile ones alive. I was able to tell a NICU story everyday and dedicate a marathon to a different family.” Tom has shared the stories of over 75 families who went through the NICU. Many of these are heartbreaking, but he has really brought a community together.

Fast forward, he is now working as an ambassador for the hospital. His goal is to organise many other events, including his biggest one yet to run from Melbourne RWH to Adelaide… and back.

Watch this space! We can’t wait to see what he achieves this year, you can follow his journey here.