Benedict Rayner
Leo's Middlesbrough 10k 2022
Fundraising for Leo's
Story
Our friend's beautiful little girl Edie had an extremely challenging start to life. These are the words of her mum and dad (Abby & Dan):
After a traumatic birth which resulted in admission to the neonatal unit, Leo’s were a lifeline to us as a family. Both the support packages offered during our time in the unit, to everything they have supported us with since discharge we can’t thank them enough.
They provided stay and play and yoga groups which offered an environment where the people around us ‘got it’ and understood the journey we were on and facing. It can be so difficult to attend standard playgroups when you have anxiety around what happened to your baby and what that could potentially mean, and having an environment where people understood that was so important.
They have also supported us with counselling and CBT therapy both following our neonatal stay, and then whilst going through the pregnancy of our second child.
Overall Leo’s are an amazing support to families like ours.
Leos is a parent-led charity set up to support families in neonatal care in the North East. The charity was launched in 2018 with the sole purpose of providing continued wellbeing support for families during maternity, neonatal and paediatrics.Our charity was set up in memory of Leo, twin brother of Oska, and son of Lottie, our founder. Leo was born at 24 weeks gestation but sadly only lived for four hours.As Lottie said goodbye to Leo in those precious brief moments, she was inspired to turn her love for him into a lasting legacy which would help other families like theirs. We are so proud to carry his name and speak it aloud to so many hundreds of people.Leos twin brother Oska arrived four days later at 25 weeks and went on to spend 109 days in neonatal care before going home. Our team now provide a wide range of specialised neonatal mental health and wellbeing support to ensure any family in our care receives the best possible care they can to help them on their journey.
