Walk of Hope – Family Raising Awareness for Rare Pregnancy Disorder
By Amy Woolvett
The Coastguard
On Saturday May 5th, Gerry Moher walked alone for 5 and a half hours to raise research money and awareness for a condition called Hyperemesis Gravidarum. A condition, his daughter Janis Moher suffered three lost pregnancies through. The walk from the Shelburne Municipal Building that raised $375 is a warm up to prepare for the much longer walk his daughter has been organizing in Ontario to take place between June 23rd and June 29th.
Janis, her mother, and two of her closest friends will be walking a Journey of Hope from London Ontario to Toronto finishing up the 230 kms outside the Hospital for Sick Children where a group will meet their arrival.
Gerry will be walking with them for the last three days of their journey, estimated at 50 kms per day.
Hyperemesis Gravidarum is a debilitating, potentially life threatening pregnancy disease marked by rapid weight loss, malnutrition and dehydration due to unrelenting nausea and or vomiting with potential adverse consequences for the newborn(s).
“Pregnancy should be a time of joy, not a time of pain, agony and dread as it is for the women who suffer from HG”, said Gerry Moher.
According to Janis, some of her Doctors looked at her extreme nausea as a psychological disorder.
Recently Dr. Phil had a show that spotlighted the condition and the medical professions approach to it.
Janis wrote her letter to the show explaining her own story and the lack of support she received.
“I was sent a psychiatrist in Hospital with my second attempt who would wait outside my bathroom door while I wretched to tell me I was overreacting. I was just pregnant and that I must not want my baby.” She wrote.
Her three attempts for a baby were fraught with extreme sickness and weight loss.
“I could not make it past 4 and a half months. I lost 40 pounds. I was sick with blood at least 30 times a day, all day and night.
It has taken Janis two years since her last pregnancy to be able to talk about it and now she has vowed to do all she can do to spread the word and help as many women suffering with the illness as she can.
She says more research is needed to go towards finding a cure and more education to the medical field on how to treat women suffering from the condition. She hopes her walk will do that, and all funds raised will go towards research and support for women with HG.
Following her walk, there will be a fundraising dinner to help raise funds. Janis hopes the money raised will help pave the way for future women with HG so they will not have to go through what she did.
“It’s an absolutely horrible situation. Pregnant women, very ill, being told they must not want their children or must not love their husbands when they are truly fighting for their lives. It is not morning sickness, and we are trying desperately to be heard.” Explains Janis.
She has found support through the website http://www.helpher.org/ where many women suffer similar stories and let her know she is not alone.
