Miscarriage charity marks five years supporting Kiwi families

Tatiana Gibbs - The Press - October 2024 With their due dates just three months apart, a pair of Canterbury sisters were excited to experience pregnancy together.

But one found out that her baby had died before her 12-week scan and the siblings and their families then felt “completely ill-equipped” in the situation or how to support each other.

It was the catalyst to starting Miscarriage Matters New Zealand, which marked five years of helping thousands of families at its 5th Butterfly Fun Run on Sunday in Christchurch. Sisters Aleisha Black and Corrine Christian co-founded the charity in 2019 to improve the miscarriage experience for New Zealanders and now its care packages and educational pamphlets are distributed via healthcare providers across the country.

As many as 30 women and their families are affected by miscarriage every day, with 10-20% of the 60,000 NZ pregnancies per year ending in miscarriage.

“We wondered why it had happened and what would happen next,” Black said. A Google search for answers brought up the definition over and over again: a spontaneous loss before 20 weeks’ gestation - which did not help anxious women searching in the middle of the night, trying to find out how much pain was normal.

Empathetic care from healthcare providers was also slim, Black said. While her midwife visited her for weeks after her son was born, her sister got a text from her midwife that said “it seems to have all sorted itself out naturally now, no need for anything further, goodbye”. While having a blood test done to confirm the miscarriage, Christian was mistakenly congratulated for being pregnant and told “what an exciting time for you”.

“The way that Corrine was treated created more pain at an already upsetting time,” Black said.

“I thought that someone must have made a mistake. I made some phone calls and my sad, baffling discovery was that there had been no mistakes. That was the norm for miscarriage and I thought that it was so wrong.” They began distributing care packages in 2020, initially sending 75 packages each month to women in Christchurch. Now, more than 100 are sent each month across Christchurch, the West Coast, Timaru, Auckland, and Wellington. Each includes a card with a hand-written message, a packet of seed bombs, a keepsake, a coffee culture voucher, a chocolate and a pamper product.

“When Corrine had her miscarriage there was no acknowledgement, no sensitivity, no information, and no follow up. Our care packages acknowledge the loss and they provide a way for medical practitioners to show compassion.”

More than 5000 families have been supported by the charity so far. Alongside an informative website, Miscarriage Matters published an information pamphlet which has been requested by nurses, midwives, social workers and doctors across the country. Its website had an 879% increase in visitors in the past 12 months. In August a memorial bench was installed at The Groynes in Christchurch – near where the fun run begins each year.

The 6km track for people to walk or run was an opportunity for families and supporters to come together, raise awareness, honour the memories of their babies, and raise funds. It coincided with Baby Loss Awareness Week, which runs between October 9-15.

“It can feel so isolating to experience early pregnancy loss, but at the Butterfly Fun Run there are all these people around you,” Black said.