‘All down to one little girl’: The family turning tragedy into a lasting legacy

Joe, now 54, is to thank for the more adventurous challenges. “He wants to do something challenging because of what those babies go through,” Danielle says. “Hard yakka is our mantra.” The family currently an Everest Base Camp trek in the works, which the couple’s son Noah, 14, will be joining Joe on later this year.

The Capaldis decided early on to focus their funds on medical research, aware it could take years to see results. However, it’s “gone gangbusters”. In 2015, the MCRF raised funding for a trial, which looked at withholding feeds during blood transfusions in premature babies and babies with NEC. It resulted in a national multi-centre research trial, the WHEAT Trial, which is now global with Canadian and UK hospitals joining.

“Hard yakka is our mantra.”

Danielle Capaldi

Premature babies often need blood transfusions, as they don’t have enough red blood cells, and Madison was fed during a transfusion before she got sick. “Doctors have made remarkable progress in detecting NEC,” says Danielle. “It spurs us on if even one family doesn’t have to suffer like we did.”

Charlotte is in the unique position of growing up with a twin sister she never knew, but who is still a huge part of her life. She’s even part of the charity’s logo: twin girls.

One of Charlotte’s earliest memories is fixing lapels onto guests at a cocktail fundraiser, and she gave speeches about the MCRF throughout her school years, which helped her stay close to her sister. “If it was just my parents’ thing, it would feel like their loss and not mine,” Charlotte says. “Now I’ve fully understood how Maddie died and know how much my parents suffered – that’s hit hard. I still feel that loss even though I don’t remember her.” Charlotte visits Madison’s grave every month or so, making it a little tradition for herself to go and be with her sister. The MCRF, she says, helps her feel as though her sister didn’t die in vain.

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Danielle, like Charlotte, feels closest to Madison when she’s helping the hospital. “It’s the only home Madison ever knew,” she says. “The people there are like family. We’ve seen doctors and nurses come and go, but we keep in touch.”

Anyone who’s had a sick baby in The Royal’s NICU has most likely been touched in some way by the Capaldis’ fundraising efforts. The family are humbled by the fact it’s all down to one little girl whose eight weeks on this earth had such a profound impact.

Charlotte plans to continue the MCRF’s amazing work for generations to come. “I’m planning to continue this legacy, not just for Maddie, but for my parents because it’s their legacy too,” she says. “It all started with Mum and Dad.”

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