With all the risks that do get mentioned to parents during pregnancy, stillbirth never once crossed our minds - medical professionals are completely silent about this possibility. Since Jacob's death, we have been shocked to discover that 15 babies die every day in the UK before, during, or shortly after birth. In fact, 1 in every 200 pregnancies ends in stillbirth in the UK alone, every year, around 3600 babies are stillborn - that's twice the number of people who die in road traffic accidents. Sadly, 9 in 10 of these deaths are either completely 'unexplained' or could have been prevented if difficulties were detected sooner. Babies being stillborn is 5 times more common than Down's syndrome and 15 times more common than SIDS/cot death.

Despite these devastating statistics, this is an incredibly under-researched and under-funded area. In memory of our son, we are now passionate about raising awareness of this risk and raising money for SANDS, a large stillbirth and neonatal death charity in the UK who support bereaved families and fund stillbirth research projects.

We hope that raising money for SANDS will ensure that the children at risk of stillbirth are no longer ignored.