Saturday, November 17th marks World Prematurity Day – a way to support families with babies who were born early.

Almost six thousand babies in Quebec are born premature every year.

One-year-old Erik is a fighter, born extremely premature when his mother, Alexandra Kallos, had her water break at 22 weeks. She says, at the time, she had little hope he’d survive.

“I thought if it’s going to be over, let it be over and that’s it,” Kallos said.

She spent four weeks at the Royal Victoria Hospital before giving birth. Erik weighed only 950 grams, and his first 82 days were spent in the neonatal intensive care unit.

“You don’t hear people who say they have premies say that they’re extremely lucky, but at this point, we were so grateful that we made it to 26 weeks,” she explained.

One in 10 babies born in Quebec is premature. In Canada, pre-term births account for two thirds of infant death.

Preemies often face serious health risks, as their bodies often aren’t ready to survive outside the womb.

“Slightly premature babies can have more problems with jaundice and controlling their blood sugar, and they’re still more at risk of infections, explained Dr. Keith Barrington, a neonatologist at Sainte-Justine Hospital.

World Prematurity Day aims to bring support, and to alleviate the strain on families.

“It’s stressful enough that many parents who have babies in the neonatal unit face signs of PTSD,” Barrington said.

“When you look at your child and he’s in an incubator, and you’ve only been pregnant 26 weeks and you don’t see him immediately after he was born, it’s hard to understand that’s your baby,” Kallos said. “It’s a difficult thing to connect with a little creature that doesn’t look like a normal baby.”

This year, there’s a special focus on the role fathers play – a cause close to Barrington’s heart, since the neonatologist is also the father of a baby born 16 weeks early.

“Fathers have been to come extent neglected, and I think what we’re seeing now is a refocusing on the family as a whole,” he said.

Erik is now just like any other infant – a happy, healthy little boy who has already fought- and won – one of his biggest battles.