Our angel baby, was born sleeping in June 2011 at 28 weeks. It was awful and I lost my way for a while but am forever grateful for Sands, the memory box in the hospital, the booklets to guide, advise and give us ideas on what options were available to us… as well as the support groups and phone line support which I used more than a few times when I eventually went back to work.

A. has always known about our angel baby, I’ve never kept her a secret, but the anxiety she had when we told her I was pregnant last year broke my heart… but I remembered the support from Sands and a close group of friends in 2011 and was able to find some words to give her some comfort and reassurance without giving a guarantee that everything would be okay.

When Z was born, we were all so happy and relieved with his safe arrival.

This is the part that I haven’t yet shared, but is my main driver for this challenge, here and now….

At 4 days old I had to take him to A&E, and within the space of about 3hrs he went from a content little baby to being on a ventilator and fighting to stay alive… I have never been so scared in my entire life as I was in that first 72hr period…

Thank you to the incredible staff at the Bristol Children’s Hospital and our NHS, he is here and doing really well, but at the time, in the back of my mind, all I could think was ‘I can’t loose him, not another child….but if I do, I know that Sands is there and I’ll be able to reach out to them…’

Tragically though, someone, somewhere goes through what we have been through on a daily basis…

I wish with all my heart that no family goes thru anything like we went thru, the loss of a child at any time is soul destroying… but having a charity like Sands, researching, educating, informing and supporting is essential.

If you could spare some ££s whilst I pedal to the finish line, I would be very grateful!!

Thank you for reading! 🥰