On 31 July 2020, my wife and I were excitedly heading into our 20 week scan to find out whether we were having a baby boy or girl. Sadly, we discovered our first child, little baby boy Finn, had quietly passed away a few days beforehand. We were devastated. The next few days passed in a horrible blur as we struggled to come to terms with the loss and my wife was induced to give birth to him. It was a horrendous time, but it could have been far worse had we not been so well looked after by the staff at Kingston Maternity Unit in their purpose-built 'Daisy Room' suite. The staff were absolutely superb and carried us through what was an unbelievably tough few days and beyond, supporting us for months afterwards with counselling and more. Now we want to give something back.
The Daisy Room at Kingston Hospital is funded by charitable donations - it's a room in the maternity wing of the hospital where parents going through the loss of a child can have privacy away from the busy maternity ward. It really made a difference for us to have this facility - we were so grateful to those who had set it up on day one, even though it’s a terrible thing to have to create.
So! I'm running the London Marathon on October 4th 2021 in honour of Finn and to raise funds for Kingston Hospital Charity. I’m hoping our friends and family will support me in supporting this brilliant charity and hospital that we owe our recovery to. We’ll never forget our lovely little boy, but we are on the healing journey thanks in no small part to the wonderful team at Kingston. Thank you in advance for your support everyone!