Lauren Pezzullo and her son, Linden.

BY CAROLINE GRECH
Staff Writer

It’s just after 11 am and Lauren Pezzullo is trying to track down her white poodle, Petey, which has just run out the door. She also making sure her son, Linden, is occupied and, while chasing both of them around, she straightens up the house.
Multi-tasking is pretty much the norm for the Newmarket mother of two but despite being busy, she wouldn’t have it any other way.
Mrs. Pezzullo’s life changed dramatically with the birth of Linden, her second son.
The rambunctious two-year-old sits on a chair beside her and as she sits down for an interview, he passes her a bowl of chopped onions from the refrigerator and begins eating.
All you have to do to the the blond-haired, blue-eyed mirror image of his mother to smile is simply smile at him.
But things weren’t always that simple.
Born at 27 weeks, Mrs. Pezzullo spent weeks in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto not knowing if Linden would pull through.
At three pounds, three ounces and with feet the size of the tip of his mothers thumb, Linden was also born with meningitis and septicemia.
“The greatest gift to every parent is a healthy child. But you don’t understand what it’s like to have a baby who is born sick.” Mrs. Pezzullo said, the anguish at the memory etched on her face.
The first few hours of Linden’s life were rife with stress.
“It was horrible. We went through the whole process. A few hours after he was born, he started having seizures,” Mrs. Pezzullo said, adding his heart stopped briefly.
When a nurse approached her and her husband Sam, the prognosis was not good.
Through the whole experience, Mrs. Pezzullo was comforted by NICU staff and it was during one of the many dark moments following Linden’s birth she realized how much help they provided.
“I had to give back something to let them know how much I appreciated what they did for me,” Mrs. Pezzullo said.
Mrs. Pezzullo started THE LINDEN FUND two years ago to raise money to purchase specialized equipment and provide items of comfort and security for the families and the infants in the NICU.
One of the items, Mrs. Pezzullo suggested are preemie dolls the size of actual preemies to help teach parents how to hold and care for one.
“Basically, everything you learn as a parent of a normal-sized child, throw out the window,” Mrs. Pezzullo said, adding preemies don’t have muscle reflexes like a full term newborns, so extra precautions need to be taken.
Among the first things the fund purchased for the unit was a camera because parents are often so wrapped up in what is happening to their newborn, they forget to take those first photographs of the children, Mrs. Pezzullo said.
“A lot of preemies don’t make it. Now nurses will take a picture,” she said, adding one of her volunteers lost her preemie and was grateful to have a photograph.
Together, Mrs. Pezzullo and 14 volunteers have raised more than $60,000 for Mount Sinai, but helping families of preemies is not the only thing Mrs. Pezzullo hopes to gain. She also wants to create a support network for new mothers of preemies.
Mrs. Pezzullo’s latest project is a bereavement room for parents of children who die in hospital.
The bereavement room, with she hopes to have open by the end of the year, is the biggest project the fund has tackled.
By keeping the organization small and on a volunteer basis, 97 per cent of the money raised goes directly back to equipment.
Giving back has always been a way of life for Ms. Pezzullo, who was born in the United Kingdom and raised in the Salvation Army, a church that emphasizes giving back to society and helping others.
“It’s a part of me. I don’t have to work at it. It’s just something I do. I’ve been doing soup runs and kettle drives forever,” Mrs. Pezzullo said.
The younger of two children, Mrs. Pezzullo doesn’t hesitate when asked where she derives her inspiration to give, citing her parents as role models.
“They are my inspiration for giving. They would do anything for anybody,” she said.
Growing up all over, from Scotland and England, Kitchener to Mississauga, Mrs. Pezzullo graduated from Bayview Secondary School in Richmond Hill.
From there, she took a job at State Farm Insurance, which is where she met her husband, to whom she has been happily married for 11 years.
Together they have Taylor, 9, and Linden.
Her desire to help Mount Sinai is primarily because that is where Linden was saved and also because Woman’s’ College and Mount Sinai are the only two hospitals equipped to handle preemies in the GTA
You could be as far north as Penetanguishene, as far east as Kingston, as far west as McMaster University and be sent to Mount Sinai if you have a premature baby, Mrs. Pezzullo said, adding she would like to see more hospitals equipped with intensive care neonatal units.
Monika Jazyk’s son, Andrius, was born at 26 weeks and after receiving care at Mount Sinai, she also wanted to give back. When she asked staff at the hospital how they could help, she was told of THE LINDEN FUND.
“I was shocked it was just one woman,” Mrs. Jazyk recalls when she found Mrs. Pezzullo answering her phone.
After getting to know each other, Mrs. Jazyk, felt compelled to help.
“I just can’t believe how smart she is. She has dedicated her life to this organization,” Mrs. Jazyk said, adding the Newmarket mother is helping create bed spaces for premature babies.
While Mrs. Pezzullo has considered herself successful since she started THE LINDEN FUND, she aspires to have here organization as well known as the March of Dimes in the United States.