Ever since watching Jaws as a young child, I've always struggled to even paddle in the sea, let alone ever consider going for a swim.... so when my wife, Sharon, casually suggested me doing a shark dive to raise awareness and funds for vasa praevia in memory of my baby daughter Freya, the old fears and visions of getting eaten by Jaws came straight back to mind..... Seeing that I didn't fancy getting eaten alone, I decided to try and enlist my great friend, Bo. Bo is a father of two and crazily agreed. I think perhaps he thought I was joking at first, but now there is no backing out for either of us!

So here we both are...about to do the unthinkable (if you knew just how scared we both are of sharks it is!)....our initial jokes when agreeing to do it have turned to fears we might both end up as a tasty little snack for some very big sharks! I think we would both rather have done literally anything to be fair.....but Im doing this for my beautiful daughter Freya!

Bokani Hanyane; I have known Simon for over 18months now and he has become a very good friend, so when Simon and Sharon asked me about doing something to raise awareness of VP in memory of Freya I didnt have to think twice. I would rather have done a marathon but we decided to do a shark dive. I am petrified about this shark dive!....

We are kindly requesting your support to help us raise funds for an amazing charity VPRA to raise awareness of Vasa Praevia, a devastating condition that cruelly stole the life of my full term healthy baby girl Freya just 3hrs and 42mins after her birth in August 2011 as it remained undiagnosed during pregnancy.

Vasa Praevia affects 1 in 2,500 pregnancies and 1 in 300 IVF pregnancies. It occurs when one or more of the baby's blood/umbilical vessels cross the entrance to the birth canal beneath the baby's head. During labour these vessels can become compressed causing oxygen deprivation or even worse, with the onset of labour (when the cervix dilates and the waters break) these vessels can tear causing rapid foetal haemorraghe.Sadly 95% of cases not diagnosed before birth will result in the death of a full term healthy baby at birth, the few that survive suffer harrowing birth experiences and risk serious complications such as brain damage and life long disability.

However this can all be prevented!! When diagnosed in pregnancy by a simple colour doppler ultrasound scan and a management plan is observed there is a 100% infant survival rate (this includes an early c section before the onset of labour). Full term healthy babies need not die at birth!!

We want everyone to be aware of the risks (especially those in high risk groups of vp - like we were but didnt know it) and to ask about VP at their antenatal appointments. Currently routine screening for VP is not available but VP can occur without any symptoms. Which is why we fully support VPRA who believe all women should be screened. We do not want to scare anyone, remember this is still a rare condition we simply want to raise awareness so those women with any suspicion of VP can be reffered for screening.

VP high risk groups include women with:

- painless bleeding in pregnancy

- low lying/placenta praevia ( the nhs website also clearly states where a placenta previa later rises in pregnancy the risk of VP must be eliminated.

- Bi-lobed or succenturiate lobed placenta

- In vitro fertilisation pregnancies ( increases risk to 1 in 300)

- Multiple/twin pregnancies

- Velamentous insertion of the umbillical cord

- history of uterine surgery, previous c section or D&C

Please share this information and encourage everyone to visit  www.vasapraevia.co.uk  to find out more about the risks and to help save a baby's life.... VPRA are doing an amazing job and through greater awareness and guidelines we are aware of hospitals that safely deliver VP babies......some of the VP babies safely born that we have come to know of, were born just before or after Freya, but not all hospitals are.....thats why we need your help. We need you to share this information with everyone especially medical proffesionals and pregnant women to help save a baby's life.....full term healthy babies need not die at birth!

Sharon and I are very grateful to the staff at Glan Clwyd for the changes that have been put in place since Freya's death and the awareness of VP and its risk groups. We want ALL hospitals to join those hospitals already preventing such tragedies! We can never thank the staff enough for the support and efforts they made to try and save Freya but as her parents we would be lying if we didnt admit it hurts like hell that our beautiful, full term healthy baby daughter had to die for these lessons to be learnt when her death could so easily have been prevented. Despite the efforts of staff it was too late for Freya as VP had not been diagnosed before birth....had VP been diagnosed in pregnancy Freya could still be here alive and well. Hopefully through greater awareness we will help save other babies lives.........

PLease also be aware that the RCOG published a greentop paper in January 2011 outlining guidance of screening for high risk women and management plans for VP.

The shark dive will take place at the Blue planet aquarium Cheshire Oaks Sunday 5th August 2012 please join us if you can......to celebrate Freya's short life around the time of her first birthday (10th Aug) so we want to raise as much money as possible for the amazing charity VPRA hence our BIG target!! so please dig deep all and thank you for your support. We will update this page with a date and time as soon as possible. 

PLEASE NOTE YOU CAN DONATE ONLINE OR OFFLINE AS BOTH SIMON & BO WILL HAVE SPONSOR FORMS :)

PLEASE ALSO TAKE A MOMENT TO CLICK ON FREYA'S TEAM PAGE (link on this page below) to see what else we are doing to raise awareness and funds in memory of Freya -  you can also read Freya's full story on Sharon & Simons page. 

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