Thanks for taking the time to visit our JustGiving page supporting our chosen Charity SANDS.

On 2nd July 2010 Gerry Groome was told that her baby had died in the womb, she was only 4 days over due and had a perfect pregnancy up to that terrible day.  On the 4th July 2010 she was induced and Eoin William was born sleeping at 16.12pm.  He was perfectly formed which only made the loss more painful as with no physical reason for the stillbirth there were so many unanswered questions, but with the support of the charity SANDS run by bereaved parents who have been through the same thing has helped Gerry and her partner Martin realise that they are not alone and what they are feeling is normal.

Everyday in the UK 17 babies will die, the tragic victims of stillbirth or neonatal death. This is a statistic that is seeing no signs of decreasing, and behind each number is a family rocked to the foundations by the death of their baby. 

This shocking figure, the loss of 6,500 babies every year, is something the public is not generally aware of. Most people think stillbirths don’t happen in the 21st century. Yet stillbirth in the UK is 10 times more common than cot death.

At Sands, the stillbirth and neonatal death charity, they feel this number of deaths is totally unacceptable. They have launched the Why17? campaign to raise awareness of this devastating loss and to ask the question:

“Why are 17 babies a day dying and what can be done to halt this national tragedy?”

Please follow the link to find out more about the aims of their campaign and research that is needed to try and drive down the number of babies who die every day. 

For this reason we have decided to take part in the 5K Adidas Challenge in the memory of Eoin and raise money for this great campaign so please take the time to sponsor us.

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer. So it’s the most efficient way to donate - we raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity.

So please dig deep and donate now.