Emmeline has started school this year and loves it! We’re often playing the role of students and she is her teacher, Miss Sykes. There have been many times when we never thought we’d get to this point. Sadly, her identical twin sister, Beatrice, never got to come home with us.

During the girls’ journeys, our family has been supported immeasurably by Forget Me Not Children’s Hospice and they never asked for a penny. We were supported through bereavement counselling, birth and funeral advice, advocacy, peer support through groups like Rainbow Baby Massage, psychological therapy, advice on how to talk to Ted and Emmeline about their sister and so much more.

In the year that Emmeline has started school, we want to throw our might – and aging bodies – behind them and help raise some much-needed funds to support the wonderful care that they provide for families. This academic year, I’m going to take on three marathons – one for each of my children, to try and raise £2,500 for the amazing work at Forget Me Not. I’m going to set off on the journey at the Yorkshire Marathon this Sunday, 19th October, before completing the London Marathon in April 2026 and then finally finishing of our journey at The Rob Burrow Leeds Marathon, in May 2026.

It’s currently Baby Loss Awareness Week. Until it happened to us, I didn’t know how many people were affected by losing a baby. Parents who never got to bring their child home, brothers and sisters who never met their siblings, grandparents who never got to hold their grandchild. On Wednesday 15th October at 7pm, we as a family will come together and light a candle in memory of Beatrice in the Wave of Light.

If you would like to make a donation towards Forget Me Not, perhaps in memory of someone, or in support of someone you know who may have suffered the devastating loss of a baby, we’d be eternally grateful.