A dedication to mothers and our lost daughters

An Award nomination because I hurt doesnt feel right to receive this in my own name but I will do so because this is your award baby girl and i would also like to share this with three very special mums and their baby girls too. To Danielle and Belle, Sheye and Ava and Leanne and Toni and of course my dearest Purple Princess this is for all of us. Not only do these wonderful women support mummy through her pain, her anguish and the darkest of my life since losing you but these three mums give me inspiration that our lives go on regardless and even though we all want to change we know we cant.

So Hannah if you dont mind mummy wants to thank these wonderful people and their daughters, if it wasnt for me losing you I would probably have met them and learned to know and love them all and their daughters just like you.

So for Danielle, Sheye and leanne thank you all. To Hannah, Belle, Ava and Toni i hope heaven is a fun place for you all to run and laugh in we will be with you all soon. Take care of yourselves brightest angels.

Hannahs Mummy
xxxxx

Laidley mother's dedication brings Pride award nomination

WHEN Laidley's Katherine Plint - who lost a child to drowning - learnt she had been nominated for a Pride of Australia award for courage, she cried.

The Laidley mother, who established a drowning prevention and awareness foundation following the loss of her daughter Hannah, said she was "truly humbled".

"There's just so many more mums out there who are more deserving. I really struggle with the fact I've been nominated because I don't like bringing attention to myself," she said.

"I just want to promote Hannah's Foundation. It's not about me and how I cope, it's about Hannah's story and the need to save other lives."

Together with husband Andrew, Mrs Plint worked tirelessly to establish Hannah's Foundation after the toddler's death on October 4 last year.

She was inside changing her baby son's nappy when 34-month-old Hannah climbed the fence of their backyard pool and drowned - in less than three minutes. Mrs Plint said the months that followed were hell and she might not have survived if not for her husband's suggestion they honour their daughter with Hannah's Foundation. She said the foundation, launched in March, was a full-time job.

Part of her work with the foundation involves scouring real estate websites looking for pools that do not comply with pool fencing legislation. "I found 19 in one day that actually breach regulations. I email the real estate agency, I email the real estate institute in that state, and I email the council the house is in and I report it," she said.

Despite her determination to make the foundation a success, Mrs Plint struggles daily with the grief of losing her little girl. The smell of chlorine triggers memories of that horrible day last year, and she avoids going into Laidley's business centre because of the cruel and baseless comments directed at her.

"It's absolutely horrible what people assume of you. I'm the mother who drowned a daughter. There are other mums who are being blamed by the public and they didn't do anything wrong," she said.

To nominate an ordinary Queenslander doing extraordinary things for a Courier-Mail and Sunday Mail Pride of Australia medal, log on to www.prideofaustralia.com.au.