2LT Local News

Hundreds of locals from Windsor and the surrounding Hawkesbury area took part in the annual SIDS Stampede running festival on Sunday morning.

Around 700 participated in one of more of four principal events, a Half Marathon, a 10km run, a 5km run, and a 5km friends and family walk.

The SIDS Stampede is held annually, this year being on Sunday 27 August 2017.

To date from the last four events the organisers have raised over $100,000.

Last year 640 people took part, thirty five volunteers and the Hawkesbury community backing it.

All money entries and money raised goes directly to the SIDS and Sleep Apnoea Research Department at The Children’s Hospital Westmead. The organisers aim to support scientists in their search for a trigger and eventually, a cure, for these terrible problems.

SIDS claims the lives of approximately 100 infants in Australia every year. Sleep Apnoea is a condition that affects up to 3 of every 100 (3%) of infants in Australia. Although substantial progress has been made in reducing the incidence of SIDS in the last 20 years, many questions remain unanswered. The SIDS and Sleep Apnoea Research Unit at The Children’s Hospital at Westmead is working to find answers and relies on community support to continue their work.

The SIDS and Sleep Apnoea Research Department at The Children’s Hospital at Westmead, and its laboratory at The University of Sydney, is the only one in Australia currently performing neuro-pathological studies aimed at identifying differences in brain markers in infants who have died suddenly, to identify differences between SIDS and non-SIDS cases.