I'm raising funds for a cause close to my heart - nationally important research into infant mortality - by walking the 177 miles of Offa's Dyke during the first two weeks of August. I've chosen this particular research team because my daughter, Beth, suffered complications during her birth and died after three weeks in November 2008.

Every day in the UK 17 families are devastated by the death of their baby either shortly before or soon after they are born. At the University of Leicester, the Infant Mortality and Morbidity Studies team are leading national research to investigate the deaths of babies during or after childbirth as part of a collaboration with the University of Oxford and SANDS, the stillbirth and neonatal death charity. Their work aims to prevent deaths in the future and improve maternity and neonatal care across the UK.

  http://www2.le.ac.uk/departments/health-sciences/research/timms/projects/mbrrace-uk