Story
This year marks what would have been our daughter’s 10th birthday. Our baby girl Darcey was stillborn on August 10th 2009, our world stopped at that moment and it has never been the same since. But life very slowly regained meaning and our other amazing children gave us a reason to keep going. We have the most loving family and friends who held us up when we needed it most even though they were hurting so much along with us.
So 10 years on...
...we are still here, we still wish things could have been different and it still hurts, that will never go, but we are proof that life can go on and you can be happy again. We decided we wanted to do something positive in the year Darcey would have turned 10. In her memory we decided to do some fundraising and this 10km run is the first event.
The charity that we felt we wanted to raise funds for is ELHT&me our local hospital charity, the same hospital where I have worked as a nurse for 20 years and where Darcey and our other four children were all born. There is amazing work going on, ELHT reduced stillbirths by 20% in 2017-2018, that is a lot of babies that get a chance at life! We want to do anything we can to support our maternity services here in East Lancashire, it is important to us that any money raised goes directly into improving care of babies, parents and their families even when things don’t go as planned.
Our friends have been with us over the last 10 years, sometimes not knowing what to say or do, but they have been there, for that we are so grateful, so it makes sense that some of them are running with us, raising money and also raising awareness of stillbirth. Our eldest son Luke was 6 when Darcey was born and I know he has memories of how if affected our family. He was so sensitive at the time and today we couldn't be prouder that at 16 he has chosen to run with his slightly embarrassing parents in honour r of his baby sister.
We are all a bit old (except our Luke - we probably wont see him for dust!) not super fit, you’re more likely to find us in the pub than out running, but we are up for the challenge, so please support us by donating and help us smash our target!
Thank you so much
Anne & Craig Livesey
With our ever loyal friends:
Jamie Haworth
Ian Ramsay
Elizabeth Ramsay
ELHT&Me is the official charity for East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust.