Wiggles manager Luke Field’s touching tribute to sister Bernadette who died of SIDS

The Field family is synonymous with The Wiggles, but they have also been raising awareness and funds for SIDS research for more than 30 years.

Wiggles manager Luke Field’s first memory is as painful as it gets — the look of grief on his “tough as boots” grandfather’s face after the death of his baby sister to SIDS.

Field was just two when Bernadette died, aged only seven months, from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.

It was 1988, a time when not much was known about the condition.

In a tragic twist, his mother Pauline had been watching a segment on the first national Red Nose Day on television when she went to check on her baby.

His father Paul — The Wiggles’ manager for 24 years and brother to Blue Wiggle Anthony Field — has often spoken about the loss, which spurred the group to lend their support to the Red Nose Day campaign.

Luke Field cuddles four-month-old daughter Frankie, while uncle Anthony Field continues The Wiggles’ longstanding support of Red Nose Day. Picture: Sam Ruttyn

In the early 1990s, during the initial stages of the Red Nose Day campaign, their high-profile support helped drive public interest.

Luke has, until now, kept his memories to himself — yet wanted to share how the tragic condition affected siblings as part of this month’s Red Nose campaign.

Proud big brother Luke with his mum Pauline Field and baby sister Bernadette, who died of SIDS in 1998. Picture: Supplied

“We have incredible photos of Bernadette, of her smile and the joy she brought to my parents and myself,” he said.

“But my earliest memory is of the day she passed. My dad was on tour with (classic 1980s rock band) The Cockroaches and my mum and I were staying with my grandparents.

“My grandfather was a hard man from Cessnock, a man who’d lost his arm in a coal mining accident, he was as tough as boots.

“Yet the look on his face in hospital when the doctor passed on the news that Bernadette was gone — that look of sadness, anger and confusion — I still remember.

“At that young age I somehow had a sense that my world would never be the same again.”

Red Wiggle Simon Pryce with one of the new Red Nose Day Plush fundraising toys released this year. Picture: John Appleyard

Red Nose Day is fundraising for the month of August, with an aim to raise $1 million to save little lives and support grieving families.

Funds raised on Red Nose Day over the past 34 years have contributed to an incredible 80 per cent reduction in sudden infant deaths.

That’s 11,618 babies saved and counting.

Sadly 3000 babies still die suddenly and unexpectedly each year in Australia to stillbirth and SIDS among other things — nine little lives taken every single day.

Field treasures the photos that show him as a young boy looking up at his baby sister with delight and others where he gives her a comforting cuddle.

As a little boy he was a source of comfort for his parents, too, as they dealt with the sudden loss of their daughter.

Now a father himself (Raphie, two, and Frankie, four months), he doesn’t know how his parents got through that time.

“It made me realise very early on that life’s not perfect, that it can be short, it can be taken away suddenly,” he said.

“I knew my parents’ hearts would be broken forever and that’s why Red Nose Day is so close to my heart — I know if it wasn’t for them, and the support they provided to my parents, I don’t know how they would have been able to function.

“When I had my own girls I suffered from a lot of anxiety. Even though they’ve always been good sleepers, I don’t sleep easy and watch over them, again the information on safe sleeping from Red Nose has helped me.”

The Fields went on to have three more children, Claire, Joseph and Dominic but keep Bernadette’s memory very much alive.

“We visit her grave on Red Nose Day and on the day she passed,” Field said.

“We continue to support Red Nose in the hope that one day we can eliminate SIDS.”

To support, visit rednoseday.org.au

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