My Story - I’m preparing to walk the entire coastal route of the Isle of Wight in one go, walking through the night, to raise money for Sands and to raise awareness of pregnancy loss—a cause very close to my heart.

Fourteen years ago, I lost my firstborn son when he was born prematurely at just 24 weeks. He was too tiny to survive, and after seven agonizing days, we made the heart-wrenching decision to let him go. It was an experience that changed my life forever.

With my later pregnancies Sands provided me with incredible support, arranging extra scans and offering constant monitoring both physically and mentally. Thanks to their help I have been extremely lucky that the complications were detected early and I am blessed to have two health children, Zoe and Toby.

This walk is my way of honoring my firstborn son’s memory and expressing my gratitude to Sands for the critical support they provided during my pregnancies with Zoe and Toby. By sharing my story, I hope to raise awareness about pregnancy loss and the importance of the work Sands does to support families through their most difficult times.

Sands, the stillbirth and neonatal death charity, operates across the UK: supporting anyone affected by the death of a baby; working in partnership with health professionals to ensure that bereaved parents and families receive the best possible care; and promoting improvements in practice and funding research that could help to reduce the loss of babies’ lives.

We depend on the amazing energies of our supporters to raise the vital funds that we need to deliver the wide range of services that we offer. #TeamSands

If you wish to participate in the Bramble Patch Charity Quilt please read on:

As we now enter the 7th year of charity quilt making we have supported many worthy causes - Parkinson's UK, Alzheimer's Society, British Heart Foundation and Blood Cancer UK - and this year we are proud to announce we are supporting another amazing charity - Sands 'Saving babies Lives & Supporting Bereaved Families. But we need our fantastic customers support once again.

The Bramble Patch will be designing & creating the blocks each month using the Indigo Cheddar II fabric collection as the colours tie in beautifully with 'Sands'. The fabric will create our hand stitched "Shine Bright" charity quilt for 2025 (designed by Alicia Armstrong).

Once you have made you're generous donation - for which we are truly grateful - don't forget to drop Bramble Patch an email confirming the donation and that you're ready to stitch. And many many thanks in anticipation.