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By day, she’s a mildmannered registered valuer. But by night, she becomes ‘octo-lady’. At least, that’s what Dawn Harpur’s two teenage sons like to call her.
It’s all because the craft-loving Cambridge mum uses her spare time to crochet tiny colourful octopuses in an effort to soothe premature babies in neonatal hospital wards across the country.
The ‘octopals’ are used to help prevent the wee bubs from pulling out their life-saving tubes while in an incubator by grabbing onto the soft tentacles instead, which are thought to feel like an umbilical cord.
Dawn first heard about Octo Project, as it was then known, when a cousin in England sent her an article about hospitals trialling the hand-knitted sea creatures as therapeutic aids in 2016. Medical staff reported that they calmed babies, led to improved breathing and cardiac patterns and, as a result, increased the levels of oxygen in their blood.
“I was amazed and knew I had to be part of this,” smiles Dawn. “I was learning to crochet − and I’d still regard myself as a novice − so it took me lots of attempts to make octopals. Holes and tension were my biggest enemies!”
Keen to put her new skills to good use, the 51-year-old thought she would join a Kiwi affiliate group − except there wasn’t one. So, two years ago, she set up Octopus for a Preemie NZ (OFAPNZ) and gathered a network of 15 regular volunteers.
Together, they make octopals from 100% cotton to a stringent standard, before they then go through a sanitisation process and are sealed and sent to neonatal wards.
Before each one is gifted to a newborn, the aid is given to the mother to hold so their scent transfers onto it.
“Mums have told me the octopals bring some comfort to the family as well, because when they’re leaving their baby in hospital overnight alone, at least they’ve got a little friend with them,” Dawn explains.
“It’s a double comfort. I have no experience of having a prem baby myself yet, funnily enough, my husband Todd was a prem baby − [but] that wasn’t a motivation for me doing this,” she tells.
Dawn is often brought to tears after receiving letters and photos from families of recipients.
“People always ask if they can pay me. And I say, ‘No, just pay it forward.’ The octopus is a gift and we would never want anyone to pay for them. These families are going through such a difficult time and if we can bring a smile to their faces through something small, then that’s our reward.”
Dawn admits the octopals are tough to make and take around five hours each to create.
“Usually when crocheting, the patterns that you make come from the holes that you create. Whereas, when you’re making an octopus or jellyfish, the point is to not make any holes. It’s the reverse of what you normally do,” she explains.
“I include a tips sheet on our website of all the things I’ve learned along the way, and the message I give to everybody who attempts to make one is, there’s a home for every one.”
So far this year, the charity has gifted 540 octopals and those that aren’t up to preemie standard are delivered to refugee centres, counselling services, dementia care units or to include in care packs for foster children.
“I’ve recently been asked for some more from a community organisation called Violence Free Waipa,” adds Dawn.
“They’ve been using the octopals in counselling sessions for victims of domestic violence who like to hold and twiddle with the tentacles.”