Hello, my name is Molly and I am a first-year midwifery student at the
University of Manchester. I started my first placement in November 2020 and have been incredibly fortunate to work alongside some phenomenally supportive midwives. I have been able to see the true beauty of pregnancy and the joy that a newborn can bring to a family. When I started the course, I believed I was prepared for anything and was so excited to be able to simply support women through their pregnancies. However, I was not prepared for how prevalent
prematurity, miscarriage and still-birth is. It broke my heart to sit with
women and hear their stories about losing their babies and angered me that they had to go through such unnecessary pain. I was made aware of Tommy’s soon after starting placement and found out about how they support families through such difficult times. After seeing how much of an impact they made on bereaved families, I continued to do my own research into the amazing charity.

Tommy’s life-saving research works to reduce miscarriages, still-births and premature births in the UK and supports women and their families through their pregnancies. 1 in 4 pregnancies end in loss and Tommy’s refuse to accept that death is just one of those things, so work to provide explanations as to why complications occur. Their research has made the UK a safer place to give birth and has saved the lives of so many new-borns. Furthermore, with the help of amazing Midwives, Tommy's forms a caring community that provides personal support and expert advice to women experiencing loss or  through pregnancies after following a loss. Whilst the work they have done so far in incredible, there is still so far to go to understand why premature births, still births and miscarriages occur.

After seeing first-hand all the amazing work Tommy's does, I have decided to run the Great North Run in support of the amazing charity. I have on and off enjoyed running and in the past have taken on the odd 5k and a 10k, but I have never taken on a challenge as big as a half marathon. Balancing the time between studies, placement and training will be a huge commitment and will certainly require a lot of motivation, but hopefully raising funds and awareness and supporting such an amazing cause will make it all worth while. 

Thank you for taking the time to read this, any donations to support this cause would be hugely appreciated. 

Together, we can make a difference. 

Thank you, Molly x