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I am running the London Marathon this April 2020 in support of Teddy's Wish, an amazing charity that supports research into SIDS (sudden infant death syndrome), as well as grieving families.  Teddy's Wish was founded by my friends Chris & Jen after they tragically lost their baby boy Eddie to SIDS. I can’t begin to imagine how you take one step and get out of bed in the morning after the loss of a child, but I hope by taking some 45,000 ++ steps running the marathon that I can help to honour Teddy and the love of his parents for him. 

Jen & Chris’ story

Edward Louis Reid was born on 18 January 2014. Our first baby, he was the brightest light to ever shine in our lives.

Tragically 3 months later on 16 April 2014 he left us, a victim of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), formerly known as Cot Death. This was the most devastating loss imaginable and that light was extinguished.

We have set up Teddy’s Wish to support other grieving families and continue research into the causes behind SIDS, neonatal death and stillbirth.

In short, we want to search for answers and do something meaningful in Edward’s name.

Losing a child is every parent's worst nightmare. No parent should ever outlive their child. It flows completely against the natural order of life and is the worst loss imaginable. As a parent you are meant to protect your child. We felt helpless and that we had failed Eddie and failed as parents. 

To further complicate our grief, there was no reason or attributable cause as to why our darling Eddie left us. We were desperate to find an answer as to how a seemingly healthy baby could die without cause or explanation. The search for an answer to this tragic question was the starting point for founding our charity, Teddy’s Wish. The charity also allows us to continue to parent Eddie in some way. 

Teddy’s Wish is more than just SIDS research. Through our grief we met many other parents who had lost an infant or baby and we started to understand the scale of loss here in the UK, not just SIDS, but pre-term, stillbirth and neonatal losses. We raise funds for potentially life saving research into the causes of all forms of baby loss and we provide bereavement support for grieving families as we firmly believe this is equally important. All parents require critical support in the weeks, months and even years after losing their child.

Our hope is that in time, we will substantially reduce the numbers of babies lost each year and whilst the charity won’t bring our darling Eddie back, it may help others and that would be a fitting way to honour his memory and make him proud of his mummy and daddy.

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