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We will be taking part in Life Love's Rainbow Run on 22nd October 2016 to support our best friends Nicola & Kenton and celebrate the life of their beautiful daughter Siena who was taken too soon.

Nicola and I have been best friends for about 20 years now. We've shared so many loves; netball, NKOTB, Take That, cheesy dance routines, sunny holidays and the occasional night out!!  We were both lucky enough to meet our amazing men and I was proud as punch when Nicola asked me to be her Maid of Honour. The four of us have always had so many laughs and good times despite the distance between us.

Our shared loves and things in common continued as we entered the next chapter in our lives; falling pregnant at the same time, both expecting baby girls, there are 4 months between Nicola and I and there was exactly 4 months between our girls. Everything was perfect.

I'll let Nicola and Kenton tell their story:

"On 15th December 2015 all of our dreams came true, our beautiful little princess Siena was welcomed into the world at 23:24, weighing a healthy 7lb 3oz. With chubby little cheeks, long fingers with manicured nails, and perfectly styled hair, Siena was the most beautiful baby we have ever seen. She definitely took the best of both of us ... a picture of perfection.

Throughout the whole pregnancy, our Si Si has been a little wriggle monster and on arrival she was exactly the same. Every time she heard a loud noise she would splay out her arms, legs, fingers and toes like a little starfish. We have never felt such love. We were fortunate enough to spend 5 incredible days engulfed in love for our amazing baby girl. She suffered briefly from jaundice but soon recovered. Feeding was hard at first, but together we made a great team and it soon became a breeze.
On December 20th we were thrilled to be taking our little angel home. The house was decorated with balloons and banners and the church bells were ringing. We spent the afternoon together as a family and took lots of photos sat by the Christmas tree and Siena's 1st Christmas stocking,

Devastatingly these were our last precious photos with our beautiful baby daughter. At 3:30am on 21st December, at only 5 days old, our Siena fell asleep and never woke up. Our world ended that night. All of our hopes and dreams for our future with Siena have been shattered. We have lost the most important person in our lives, our one true love, our baby girl and life will never be the same.

Our time at the hospital that night is a blur, but as we left we were given a memory box containing Si Si's hand and footprints, a lock of her hair and a teddy to match the one kept with her. At the time it did not feel like much of a consolation ... we were leaving without our baby, however on reflection this was a lovely gift, some final memories and keepsakes of our amazing Siena.

Since then we have been incredibly thankful for the support we have been given. Sands, the Stillbirth and neonatal death charity have provided us with the memory box, a number of leaflets guiding us through the process, a support network and forum, along with a befriending service, so we can engage with others who have experienced similar loss, providing support and a listening ear. In addition, the charity has enabled us to have Siena's memory alive through the online remembrance book and the remembrance book at the hospital where we had our Siena. Beyond this Sands fulfil a whole range of other activities to support bereaved parents including providing counselling training to our midwives.

Although our angel is no longer with us, we will keep her memory alive and she will be forever in our thoughts and hearts. We are now facing a rollercoaster of emotion as we go through our grieving journey and need the support of Sands to help us through"

With this in mind we are trying to raise as much money as possible in Siena's name, so that Sands can continue to support them and other families experiencing the devastation of losing little ones.

Thank you for any donation you can give no matter how large or small - every penny makes a significant difference and allows Sands to continue their fantastic work.

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