Dear Family, Friends and supporters,

October 3rd 2010

Our fundraising total continues to increase, our cousin Liam Page ran the Berlin marathon last week in an amazing time of 3hrs 20mins and raised over £100 for our Daisy Fair fundraising. Well done, and a big Thank You.

Matt Jones triple Cross Country marathon fundraising total now stands at £815 (£115 over his original target) - many, many thanks and Well Done Matt! Hope all is well for your last marathon on 23 October at Beachy Head. If anyone would like to sponsor Matt directly his JG page is www.justgiving.com/mattjones11

Thanks also to David Bitner who , despite some treacherous conditions attempted all 3 of the mountains in his 3 Peaks challenge, braving floods, sleet and very poor visibilty. David has acheived his target of £1000! Outstanding effort - thank you so much x

We have also had some additional donations , and, thanks to all our generous supporters, our fundraising total now stands at over £24,400! Phenomenal! Thank you x

September 2010

August 9th 2010

Wow! We are absolutely overwhelmed by the support that we have recieved from our family, friends and supporters. Your donations have been amazing, both on this Just Giving site and through offline donations. Your beautiful messages have helped us so much over the last few very difficult and sad months and we find real comfort in coming back to read them time and again. 

We now believe that we can achieve much more than our initial target and have therefore reset our fundraising target to £10k

We are confident of achieving this target as we have our Daisy Fair and Daisy Fair Auction fundraising still to come.

We would like to also say a huge THANK YOU to those of you who have donated some fabulous prizes and all those volunteering help and support on the day.

Finally, and very importantly, we have been so touched by those of you who have taken it upon yourselves to branch out and do your own Daisy Fundraising, so thank you to Barnaby Atthill and friends for their sponsored PedalPush, Matt Jones for his inspiring 3 Cross Country marathon challenge, Tescos babywear dept for their cakebake day, Patchway NHS Health Clinic for their charity quiz night , Imperial Tobaco, Bristol for holding a Dress Down Friday and Dorothy Perkins Head Office for holding a cake bake, sample sale and Clothes Swap party.

We have agreed with SANDS that all additional funds raised towards our new target of £10k will go towards funding more bereavement rooms in other Surrey Maternity Hospitals where they are so desperately needed.

Sarah and Alex xx

Original message:

As many of you know, we lost our longed for daughter Daisy on the 3 November 2009. Daisy was just 3 hours old when she died, and that day our lives changed forever.

Upon reflection of our own experience, we know that the environment in which you spend those few precious hours with your baby impacts significantly upon the memories created.  For these to be special it is vital that this brief time is spent in comforting and peaceful surroundings. Unfortunately most Surrey hospitals do not have dedicated facilities for this purpose, including Kingston Hospital where Daisy was born.  We believe that we can draw upon our experience to improve facilities for others. 

It is our wish to create a tranquil space in which parents can grieve quietly and alone with their baby,cocooned away from the noise of happier arrivals, something we would have valued for our all too brief time with Daisy.

We have committed to raise £5,000 to fund the creation of a dedicated SANDS room at Kingston Hospital. A suitable room has already been identified for the purpose and Surrey SANDS will oversee the project ensuring that all funds are appropriately administered.

Thankfully most of you will never have heard of Surrey SANDS. The charity provides invaluable empathic support to parents whose babies die during pregnancy or soon after. Sadly we were introduced to SANDS (The Stillbirth and Neonatal Death Charity) just after Daisy's death. Surrey SANDS are a totally self funding group, run entirely by volunteers.

We intend to raise this money through a number of fundraising events, starting off with the first ever DAISY FAIR later this summer in our garden. We have set up this Just Giving page so that there is an easy way to make your donations towards our target. All donations, whatever the size are very much appreciated.

Donating through this site is simple, fast and secure, and the most efficient way to sponsor us.  SANDS will receive your money faster and, if you are a UK taxpayer, an extra 28% in tax will be added to your gift at no cost to you.  This is a self funded event; all monies donated will go directly to the Surrey SANDS Hospital Support Project.  Gift Aid will be retained by National SANDS towards their work which includes research into stillbirth and neonatal deaths.

We cannot bring our Daisy back, she is part of our family but she is just not with us in person. Not a day goes by when we don't think about her or wonder what she would be like now, or what she would be doing. It is impossible to describe the pain of losing Daisy and it lives with us forever. Please help us to create a dedicated bereavement room at Kingston Hospital so that other parents can make the most of their brief time with their baby to create some precious memories.

Thank you all for your support.
Sarah, Alex , Ollie and Tom xxxx

If you wish to learn more about the work of the charity please visit

http://www.surrey-sands.org.uk/

Please note:

 Any monies raised through this Just Giving page in excess of the target required to fund this project will be given to Surrey SANDS to support other families and hospitals within surrey as it is hoped that this project can be rolled out accross further Surrey hospitals.

There is no word……………………………….

A woman who loses her husband is called a widow.

A man who loses his wife is called a widower.

A child who loses its parents is called an orphan.

There is no word to describe a parent who loses a child, for there is no word to describe the pain.