Story
Hello, my name's Georgia and I'm Henry's mum.
During April I will be swimming the distance of the channel in my local
swimming pool, that's 22 miles, 35.4km or 1614 lengths. This challenge is usually completed over 12 weeks but I've set my own personal challenge to do it in a month.
I'm doing this to raise money for Sands: the Stillbirth & Neonatal Death Charity in memory of my son Henry who died aged two hours old.
Henry's Story
On 11th October 2017 after a normal, low-risk pregnancy and a straightforward labour Henry was born calm, alert and apparently completely healthy, two hours later he stopped breathing and despite the best efforts of doctors died. We don't know why he died, he seemed completely healthy and his death is unexplained.
Instead of walking out of the hospital with our newborn baby and going home to the life we'd planned my husband and I left the hospital with empty arms, in complete shock and without a clue of what to do next. The life we had so carefully planned and dreamt about for nine months was gone. The death of a baby is not an experience most people have so there was nobody we knew we could turn to for advice, it was an incredibly lonely and isolating experience.
I'm fundraising for Sands because in those very early scary days their information booklets, website and support group let us know that we weren't alone which was exactly what we needed. Attending their support group for the first time a month after Henry's death and being able to talk to other people who understood the pain of losing a child and just got it was such a relief. Sands also fund research into preventing babies dying and if I can do something to help stop even one more family go through this then I want to.
Sponsor me to help Sands fund research to prevent more babies dying and help support parents at the hardest time of their lives.
Thank you
Georgia & Henry