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Tracy is the lead Midwife for SANDS at East Surrey Hospital where I am also employed as a Ward Clerk within the Maternity Department.

Whilst Tracy and I are experienced walkers, neither of us has previously walked more than 50 Kilometres (30 miles) in one day so we have set ourselves a considerable challenge which we hope will be worthy of your sponsorship.

We have called our challenge "Pounds for Penny" and there is no better way to explain why we are taking on this personal challenge than by sharing with you Penny's story below. Tracy is privileged to know the family and I have been fortunate to be able to speak with them also. Their story underpins exactly why we want to support the work of SANDS :

"Sadly, in 2016, our daughter Penny was stillborn, at 41+ weeks through a pregnancy that had been seemingly uncomplicated until that point. In turning up at the hospital to deliver our first child, we were given the devastating news that there was no heartbeat. As first time parents, we hadn’t really considered an outcome where we didn’t come home from the hospital with our new baby. The shock was overwhelming!

The immediate support we received, enabled by Sands; from the private room at the hospital where we were able to spend time with our precious Penny; the caring attention, comfort and advice we received from Tracy and the team; to the pictures, hand and feet casts and donated knitted outfit, enabled us to feel like a family and create some beautiful memories of our short time with Penny, that we are extremely grateful for.

Losing Penny is a trauma that will always be with us - Sands funding helps to provide ongoing resource and research, that not only helps (in a multitude of ways) those who have suffered such tragedy, but also will hopefully lead to a reduction in the number of stillbirths occurring in this country (horrendously, this is currently 15 babies a day).

Tracy and her husband are incredibly special people, we are enormously grateful that they are raising money for Sands, and touched they are doing so in honour of our Penny". 

Why 100 Kilometres? Because there are 100 "Pennys" in every Pound

There are four legs in our challenge each of 15 miles. Each leg, in miles, represents the number of babies who die in this country every day just before, at the time of or shortly after birth.

When? Starting on Friday 22 September 2017

Thank you