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THE FUNDRAISERS

Beverley and Michael Wolfe will tell you that at Sunnybrook, medical wonders do happen. As proof they will trot out their triplets Amanda, Samantha and Jake. The kids will be 16 this December and how they came into this world is an amazing story.



"I am just a little woman, about 100 lbs.; you can imagine me hugely pregnant with triplets," says Beverly, an audiologist. "Everything seemed to be going well with the pregnancy but then 21 weeks along I started to go into labour. Michael and I were devastated – at 21 weeks the babies were not viable. We went to two downtown hospitals but all the doctors said I would just have to deliver and hope for the best."



Then the Wolfes were referred to Dr. Kofi Anankwah. He had her admitted and for the next 13 weeks kept her lying on her side in bed, resisting other doctors' advice to start delivery. "He was amazing," says Beverley. "He did everything he could think of to prevent labour, then about 33-and-a half weeks into term he wheeled me into the delivery room and the triplets were normal – each weighed in at about four pounds."



Respiratory problems kept the babies in incubators for three weeks, but once home it proved smooth sailing, with no complications. Just a trio of happy energetic healthy children.

Raised with tales of their dramatic birth, the triplets developed a desire to do something for the hospital that saved their lives. As their 13th birthday approached, they told their parents 'no presents'. Instead they decided to raise money to buy incubators for Sunnybrook's new Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.

The triplets raised an amazing $32,000 through birthday gifts and fundraisers. The NICU now has their names on a wall plaque. " We just wanted to do something really good for Sunnybrook," says Samantha. After all, the hospital did something priceless for her and her siblings.



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