On 5th October 2011 our beautiful daughter Lucy was stillborn at the end of a long labour. Zoe was 10 days past her due date and we had not imagined for a moment that this could happen to us. We soon discovered that stillbirth is much more common than we realised, and for the first time we heard of Sands.

Sands (the stillbirth and neonatal death charity) has helped us enormously over the years. They provided bereavement care through a memory box in hospital so we could gather precious memories of Lucy, and trained the midwives who cared for us after Lucy’s death. As we have moved around the country their local support groups have been available when needed including during subsequent pregnancies with Harry and Alice. Sands is also doing fantastic work to promote research into reducing the number of stillbirth and neonatal deaths.

Zoe recently took up running and Mark has also upped his game so he doesn’t get left behind! We both decided to run the 2019 Bristol Half Marathon (a distance neither of us has run before) for charity and Sands was always going to be our charity of choice. 

Nearly 8 years on Lucy’s loss feels like a new 'normal' but every now and then it still hits us like a sledgehammer and we know other people in a similar situation feel the same. We really appreciate any donations which will support other bereaved families at their time of need.

Thanks so much,

Zoe and Mark.

(Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving - they'll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they'll send your money directly to the charity. So it's the most efficient way to donate - saving time and cutting costs for the charity.)