Donate now

Please help us help other women by becoming a Friend of Motherisk. There are many ways to give.

You can support Motherisk by making a donation using our secure online Motherisk donation form.

Does your company match your gift? View a list of companies on the SickKids Foundation Web site who have Corporate Matching Gift Programs.

Cheques made payable to "SickKids Foundation" can be mailed to Motherisk, The Hospital for Sick Children
555 University Avenue, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5G 1X8.
Simply include a note that your gift is for the benefit of Motherisk.

If you have a valid credit card and would like to make a donation over the telephone you can call (416) 813-6166 or 1-800-661-1083 and make a gift through the Hospital for Sick Children Foundation. Just be sure to tell them you want your gift to go to Motherisk.

Community events and workplace fundraisers (like Casual Fridays) are fun ways to raise money with others. If you think you would like to get involved in group fundraising, please call Susan Santiago at (416) 813-8084.

Corporate matching can double the value of your donation to Motherisk. Ask your Human Resources department for details and an application form.

Whichever way you choose, please make your gift today.

"I desperately needed help when I found out I was pregnant in the spring of 1996. First, because of the "surprise" and second because I was undergoing treatment for Rosacea and was taking antibiotics. My doctor looked up the drug, tetracycline, said I had to have an immediate abortion and wiped his hands of my situation by giving me the name of another doctor. Then I called motherisk. The calm person who answered my call that day asked me a few questions and was able to confirm that all would be well with the fetus due to the stage I was at and the amount of drugs I had taken. I went on to give birth to a beautiful, healthy baby boy just before Christmas - we called him Deaven (from heaven!) and he's been a constant joy to all our lives. Thank you, thank you, thank you." - A Motherisk caller

Every day, Motherisk counsellors answer calls from hundreds of women and their doctors, seeking important information about the safety or risk of common medications, drugs, medicinal plants, chemicals, infections and other agents that might affect their unborn children. Some of the questions are easy -- our advice reassuring. Others are a lot harder.

As you might guess, not every question has a ready answer. Each day, women and their doctors are faced with new drugs and diseases that simply have not been studied for their potential risk to the unborn. Yet mothers-to-be desperately need to know, if they are to make informed choices that will affect them and their children for life.

That's why at Motherisk, research is a vital part of what we do. Right now, pioneering research is underway to establish the risks infectious diseases and their treatment during pregnancy, determine the safety of herbal products such as echinacea, and establish once and for all the devastating effects of acute morning sickness in pregnancy.

And the research, education and counselling that we're doing are paying off.

• delivered authoritative and often reassuring information about the safety of important drugs for women with chronic conditions, such as epilepsy, arthritis and depression,
• disproved traditional "wisdom" that debilitating morning sickness is "all in a women's head" and advocated safe and effective treatment,
• established Ontario's first diagnostic program for Fetal Alcohol Syndrome,
• created Canada's first pilot program to diagnose and treat chicken pox in pregnancy, and
• helped hundreds of women avoid termination of wanted pregnancies.

"Last December, I sought your help regarding a couple of tranquilizers I had taken within the first few weeks of my pregnancy. The prescribing doctor and a well-respected obstetrician had suggested that I abort the pregnancy. As a result of your advice, my husband and I are the ecstatic parents of a beautiful, healthy baby girl. I cannot thank you enough..." - From a Motherisk patient

Yet for each woman we can and do help, many more remain beyond our reach. We just don't have the people and resources to help them all.

Nor do we have the research dollars it takes to answer critical questions about the risks of new drugs, herbal remedies and chemicals in the workplace, and the link between maternal infection and fetal malformation.

That's why we need your help. Your gift today can help us handle the daily flood of calls from concerned and caring women and men, reach out to all women of child-bearing age, including the young and less fortunate in our very own community, and uncover life-saving answers through controlled research.

Your support will also ensure that there will be someone there when you or someone you love needs our special brand of guidance, help and hope.

"I cried when I read an announcement about your NVP (morning sickness) helpline. I suffered with severe morning sickness twice. I was lucky and now have 2 beautiful, healthy daughters. I still look at my girls for signs of abnormalities due to being so ill... I wish I had known where to turn." - A Motherisk caller