After a few years of struggling to conceive, we were finally due to have our second child in August last year. Unfortunately, baby Max was stillborn 1 month early. For reasons unknown his placenta stopped working and he lost his oxygen supply.

After 10, 20, 30 weeks pass, the more you think ‘we’re in the clear’, but unfortunately that’s not the case for more people than you realise, with stillbirth occurring among 1-in-200 births in England.

No day passes without a thought of Max and what should have been, and whilst we miss him dearly we’ll forever be thankful to the Willows Support Group for the support they provided following Max’s birth. This support allowed us space and time to spend with Max in a calm place away from most in the maternity ward. We were loaned a special cot which allowed us to bring him home for a few days to meet his big brother – seeing Oscar and Max together at home is our most treasured memory. They provided specialist counselling giving us a place to speak about what we were dealing with, which is a very difficult conversation to have anywhere else.

My family and I are now doing as well as possible and on 14 April Max would have been 9 months old. That’s when I’ll be running the Reading Half Marathon, fundraising in an effort to repay Willows.

I’d greatly appreciate your support to help other families who will be impacted by stillbirth.

From Willows:

When your baby has died it can seem as if no-one else in the world knows or understands what you are going through or how you feel inside. Many parents who have lost babies know that although people who are close to them can sympathise, it is only those who have experienced the death of a baby who can offer real understanding and empathy for what you are going through.