Theo's hope fund was set up by Amanda Holden as part of Baby Loss Awareness Week, to provide much needed support & bereavement counsellors at all UK maternity units

A message from Amanda Holden

In the UK one in every 225 pregnancies end in stillbirth – one of the highest rates in the developed world.

Stillbirth is also about ten times more common than cot death. It means more than 3,430 babies die every year, with half of the tragedies totally unexplained, as in Theo's case. That leaves parents agonising about what went wrong and if it could happen again, leading to depression and other mental health issues. But fewer than half of all UK maternity centres have specialist midwives trained to help bereaved parents.

We need to change that.

Without access to bereavement counsellors grieving women struggle to move on. Many will develop depression, putting extra pressure on our stretched NHS – so stopping that seems a fairly simple fix to me.

Initially we hope to fund one full- time counsellor at Tommy's Stillbirth Research Centre in Manchester. Then, hopefully, in the future it can be rolled out across the NHS.

There is never a 'cure' for the pain of losing a baby but you can be healed in a way that lets you get on with your life.

Thank you,
Amanda x