Thornlie couple to walk for late daughter at City Beach 2019 Sunshine Beach Run

MICHELLE and Troy Dandie will be walking in memory of their late daughter Hannah on March 10, as part of the 2019 Sunshine Beach Run at City Beach.

The Sunshine Beach Run for Red Nose is an event for those that have lost a child or loved one.

The Thornlie couple, who will be the 2019 Peer Ambassadors for their very first Sunshine Beach Run, put their healthy baby Hannah to bed one night in 2002, only to find her on her hands and knees in her cot, unresponsive the next morning.

Their eight-and-a-half month old was a victm of Sudden Unexpected Death in Infancy (SUDI), an unexplained death of an apparently well baby.

“Troy was beside himself and he called the ambulance and started CPR but at that stage we knew she had been gone for a while,” Michelle said.

A year after their daughter’s death, Michelle said the family participated in promoting Red Nose Day at shopping centres but then pulled away from the cause.

The couple’s eldest daughter Caitlin decided to start volunteering for Red Nose in 2018, and then recruited her whole family, including Troy, younger sister Jasmine, and recently Michelle.

Michelle said without the support of Red Nose years ago, her marriage wouldn’t have survived.

“We wouldn’t have got through it – it was either going to make or break our marriage and it’s kind of made us stronger,” she said.

“Having three girls has made us stronger and if it wasn’t around, we wouldn’t be together quite honestly – it made us grow together as a family, a couple and individually.”

Participants can run or walk 1km, 3km and 5km distances.

To register for the event go to www.sunshinebeachrun.com.au.