Fast from the start
Wayde’s prematurity is no barrier
Wayde van Niekerk was born on the 15th of July 1992, prematurely at 29 weeks and weighing just over 1kg. His parents were advised his outlook was uncertain. On Sunday night at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games he made history winning South Africa’s first gold medal since readmission. He won the men’s 400m event in 43.03 seconds, smashing the world record at the same time.
Waydes first several weeks of life were spent in an incubator at the neonatal unit of Groote Schuur Hospital, Tygerberg. In May of this year, he returned with a £30,000 donation to help expand the unit. He said: “From what my mother tells me it was apparently a very difficult and emotional journey to have a premature baby.
“There were days where she was not sure whether I was going to make it to the next day. That’s how sick I was.
“My mother is very passionate about premature babies since she cared for one herself.”
On Sunday he became the fastest man in the world across 400m in a world record time of 43.03 seconds. This result is the crowning achievement of years of hard work and ambition combined with natural talent.
Even though life might start on the back foot, doesn’t mean you can’t finish first.
Further reading of his full story can be found here
Thanks so much for sharing your personal story!
We get a lot of positive feedback from families in a neonatal unit who read these stories and feel strength, hope and positivity knowing that they are not alone going through these experiences and feeling certain emotions.
If you would like to discuss sharing the story of your neonatal journey, we’d love to hear from you.
Support Us
If you want to help our support of families going through the stress and anxiety of a neonatal journey, you can donate via the link below.
- The Little Miracles Trust provides support to families of premature or sick full-term babies as they make their journey through Neonatal Intensive Care, the transition home, and onwards. We do not receive any Government funding and are entirely reliant on the generosity of individuals, companies and organisations in the form of donations, value-in-kind donations, grants, sponsorship and fundraising events to supplement operating costs and fund our services and initiatives.
- As we are a registered charity (CC56619) with Charities Services New Zealand we will send you an IRD compliant tax receipt – this will happen automatically by return email.