Our beautiful son, Jacob, was born on 16th August 2016. He was nine days overdue when he finally decided he was ready to come. After three days in labour, his little heart stopped unexpectedly. His death could have and should have been prevented.

With all the risks that do get mentioned to parents during pregnancy, stillbirth never once crossed our minds - medical professionals are completely silent about this possibility. Since Jacob's death, we have been shocked to discover that 15 babies die every day in the UK before, during, or shortly after birth. In fact, 1 in every 250 pregnancies ends in stillbirth. In the UK alone, every year, around 3500 babies are stillborn - that's twice the number of people who die in road traffic accidents. Sadly, 9 in 10 of these deaths are either completely 'unexplained' or could have been prevented. Babies being stillborn is 5 times more common than Down's syndrome and 15 times more common than SIDS/cot death.

Despite these devastating statistics, this is an incredibly under-researched and under-funded area. In memory of our son, we are now passionate about raising awareness of this risk and raising money for SANDS, a large stillbirth and neonatal death charity in the UK who support bereaved families and fund stillbirth research projects.

We hope that raising money for SANDS will ensure that the children at risk of stillbirth are no longer ignored. If only one family could have their 'Jacob', then perhaps our struggle will not be in vain. You can donate via credit, debit or PayPal using the orange button.

Thank you in advance for your heartfelt donation,
Jackie and Anthony Palmer