In March 2023, Maeve and I attended our routine 20 week scan where our world was turned upside down. Without going into too much detail, after multiple scans, tests and hours spent up at Derriford hospital, we received the devastating news that our baby boy had a serious and severe condition which meant that our only option to protect him was to end the pregnancy.

Our baby who we affectionately called ‘Baby Beans’ throughout the pregnancy was born sleeping on 26/03/2023. My wife, Maeve, was absolutely fantastic, with support from our amazing families and the amazing staff at Derriford hospital we had the best experience we could hope for given the difficult circumstances.

We are now five months on and want to do something to give back in memory of our beautiful son. I will therefore be running the Dublin marathon on the 29th of October to raise money for a charity called ‘Aching arms’. Aching Arms brought us comfort when we were most in need. We gratefully received a bear donated by the family of Rupert Robb-Bruce born in 2018.

Aching Arms is a charity that gives its comfort bears to hospitals and hospices, for midwives and nurses to offer to bereaved parents in their care. Along with the bears, they also offer a support service to parents after their loss, whether it was during pregnancy, at birth or soon after.

All donations are gratefully received and will have a big impact in offering comfort and support to bereaved families.

If you are a UK tax payer, please remember to Gift Aid your donation, which boosts it by 25% at no extra cost to you, and makes a big difference to the charity.

Thank you so much for your donation!