Thank you for visiting my page.

I have been lucky enough to be selected by the SANDS charity
to run the next London marathon and so wanted to share my story and raise awareness for the amazing work that they do.

My wife Louisa and I have a beautiful 5 year old son, Harry, and in September 2018 we were elated to find out that we were
expecting twins.

Despite a couple of scares in the early stages of the pregnancy, our 12 week scan showed that our babies were progressing well. However, at our 20 week scan we were given the heartbreaking news that our little girl, Annabel, had developed a life threatening
condition called severe foetal hydrops where excess fluid was surrounding her organs and compromising her lung growth.  Whilst
our little boy George was growing well, we were told that Annabel may not survive the pregnancy and her chances of survival thereafter were slim.

From that moment on, it was like feeling trapped on a rollercoaster and not being able to get off. The specialists were guiding us towards a procedure to end Annabel’s life in order to minimise further danger to Louisa and to protect George, but the procedure
carried fairly high risks too. If we were to let her carry on with the
condition worsening, there was potential threat to Louisa’s life as well as George’s. If we elected to end her life, the procedure itself could have triggered labour and George would not have survived
being that premature. It was an impossible decision.The hardest thing was knowing we were putting three lives at risk by carrying on but we couldn’t bring ourselves to end Annabel’s life. It was a case of just praying that Louisa and George stayed in a stable position. Every week that passed by seemed a lifetime, Louisa’s swelling became more severe as the fluid started leaking out of the sac and she started blacking out due to the pressure on her organs. By the time she was 28 weeks she was diagnosed with polyhydramnios and was barely mobile and at 30 weeks we were told she needed a procedure to drain out some of the fluid and stop Annabel’s heart.

Two days before the procedure, something extraordinary happened. Louisa said to me that she felt like something had been lifted from her and her intuition told her that our baby Annabel had given up her fight. The next day, our scan revealed exactly that. Nature in the end had taken its course but we believe that Annabel knew what was happening and she sacrificed herself to protect her twin brother. She took the decision out of our hands.

Due to Annabel passing away at 30 weeks, Louisa went into
spontaneous labour shortly after and on 7th March, Annabel and George were born. George was only 2lbs 13oz and had to be kept in the neonatal unit for nearly a month. In the hours after birth, we were able to hold and cherish some precious moments with our beautiful baby girl before saying goodbye to her for a final time. George is now 2 and a half and every time we look at him we imagine them together. 

There is no doubt that the support we received from our bereavement midwives and from SANDS ensured that we never felt alone at any point.  SANDS arranged for a beautiful commemorative
leaf to hang on the memorial tree at Ray Mill Island in Maidenhead. It provides a peaceful place for us to physically go and remember Annabel as well sharing and understanding the loss that many other families have experienced.

I am honoured to have been selected to run the London marathon for SANDS and will be running in memory of our beautiful Annabel and for all the other families who have suffered baby loss.

Thank you for taking the time to read my story and any donations no matter how large or small will be so gratefully received and I hope we can contribute positively towards the amazing work that this wonderful charity perform.

My page donations will be sent direct to the charity in a fast and secure way. It's efficient, saves time and cuts costs for the charity. Now time for the hard work to begin!