On January 19th my wife Sophie went into labour with our third child. The delivery was quick, but there were complications shortly after our daughter arrived and the doctors couldn’t resuscitate her. Our little girl died around 10pm that evening. We’re completely heartbroken.

Her name is Rosie Brown and she is absolutely beautiful. Sophie is in good health and we’re surrounded by family & friends. Most importantly we have two amazing, healthy, little monkeys who won’t allow us to wallow for too long. 

My mother has titled this photo above, ‘Life Goes On’. My wife Sophie is holding Rosie as our other two little ones play under the bed. But this photo was only possible because of a piece of technology on the left of the picture.

That is a Cuddle Cot, a cooling device which gives mourning families the gift of time with their babies. Without this we would have had just 12 hours with Rosie after she died.

Instead we had four full days with her. Which meant that Lily & Rudy had a chance to meet their little sister, grandparents had a chance to hold her, we as parents had a chance to cuddle her &  bath her, to take photos & hand prints and to grieve with her in our arms, as we came to terms with what had just happened.

The response after sharing that we had lost our baby has been overwhelming. It's opened our eyes to just how many families have been in heartbreakingly similar situations. I’ve also learnt that many UK hospitals have limited, or no, Cuddle Cots - which I can’t bring myself to imagine.

After a little investigation, I’ve discovered that the memory box provided in our room, the Cuddle Cot and bereavement suites like the one we stayed in, were paid for by a charity called 4Louis. They have provided over a third of all Cuddle Cots currently in use in the UK. 

I spoke to Victoria & Bob who run 4Louis last week, to see how we could pay forward the kindness provided to us. Each cuddle cot costs £1,600 and we’d like to raise enough money to buy at least one for a hospital currently without - so I’m going to start ‘Rowing for Rosie’. My wife bought me a rowing machine for my birthday and I’m going to attempt to row 1,000 Miles in memory of our daughter. That’s 6,480 metres per day, for 9 months - because that Cuddle Cot allowed us 6,480 minutes with our little girl.

If you’d like to contribute, then that would be amazing, or perhaps just share this page - as you never know who might have been affected by something similar in your circle.  

Also, I would like to invite anyone to contribute to the distance if they wish. I'd love to hit this number long before 9 months, but I’m not sure I can do that on my own. So if you’d like to Row for Rosie, or Ride for Rosie, Run for Rosie or even Ramble for Rosie, just send me your activity and your distance to either sam@airship.co.uk or 07850 343 316, and I’ll keep a record of everything. 

Wish me luck. My idea of exercise since getting married has been walking to the bar, or lifting a menu, but I promise that I will find a way.