SIDS Facts, Donations and Trip Planning

SIDS Awareness
As I add posts to this blog I will be attempting to raise awareness about Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) and other forms of infant deaths.  This has particular significance for me because I have lost three granddaughters to unexpected infant deaths:  Hazel died from SIDS, Lily died due to a serious genetic disorder and Eva was stillborn.  The term used to classify many forms of infant deaths is Sudden Unexpected Infant Death (SUID) and SIDS is included as a category within this group.
"Sudden unexpected infant death (SUID) is a term used to describe the sudden and unexpected death of a baby less than 1 year old in which the cause was not obvious before investigation. These deaths often happen during sleep or in the baby's sleep area."  (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)  https://www.cdc.gov/sids/about/index.htm

Donations
Obviously, as this will be my last extreme outdoor, I would like it to be a successful fund raiser for Gill and Hazel's Heroes so that she can continue with her retreats to support grieving mothers.  Donating is difficult if you don't know how you can to do it, so here is the information you need to donate to support my effort

• ​You can donate through etransfer to hazels.heroes.society@gmail.com 
• To receive a tax receipt, you can pay online through the SIDS Calgary Society website.
• You can also receive a tax receipt, by making your cheque payable to "SIDS Calgary Society" with "Hazel's Heroes" written in the memo line mailing your cheque to P.O. Box 50087, Marlborough Postal Outlet, Calgary, AB T2A 7P1. A tax receipt will be mailed back to your address.
• If you're a gambler you can donate an amount for each kilometre that I complete of this monster paddle along David Thompson's fur trade highway.  The chart below will give you an idea of how much you are willing to risk!  If you decide to sponsor me in this manner, please leave a comment so we can all see your commitment.

For UK residents who would like to donate to a UK charity I have partnered with The Lullaby Trust and I have put a link to their website on my donation page.

Trip Planning
Since my last post to this blog I have been busy and with some success.  I approached two companies and asked for some sponsorship help for the dehydrated food I will require and a new spray deck for my canoe with only one spray skirt for a solo paddler.  For those of you that wonder what a spray deck is, it's a cover that fits over the whole length of the canoe to prevent water coming in from whitewater waves and from rain.  On a long trip it keeps everything safe and dry including me.  Usually a spray deck has two spray skirts, one for the front paddler and one for the back paddler and I have one already for two paddlers.  Now I have one on order for a solo paddler with the spray skirt located over the front seat so that I can face towards the back when I paddle.  That puts me in a more central position where I have better control of the canoe.  The picture below shows you what a spray deck looks like.

As for the dehydrated food, I ordered 30 meals which I have already received.  I chose to go with Harvest Foodworks because on my canoe trip round the Bowron Lakes the one meal we had from them was by far the best.  Here's a small sample of the meals that I'm going to be eating on my paddle.