We are fundraising for Adoption Matters in memory of our son Ethan.

At 12weeks gestation, our baby Ethan was diagnosed with Anencephaly, a foetal developmental abnormality. Medical staff deemed him 'incompatible with life' and recommended we terminate the pregnancy. We knew that our baby already had life and purpose inside the womb, he was ours and so wanted. There was a possibility he could live through a full term pregnancy and that we would meet him alive once born, we hoped and prayed this would be. We wanted to love and cherish our baby and allow his God given purpose on earth to be fully expressed. At 16weeks we learnt he was a boy and we named him Ethan, meaning strong, steadfast, warrior.

Our beautiful Ethan was born at term on 2nd February 2016 at 6.40am. He came home with us to meet his big sister Annie and other family members and friends. He knew nothing but love during his 7 hour stay on Earth, once born, before peacefully returning home to heaven , straight from his Mummy's arms into the arms of Jesus.

From his birth until summer 2023, we raised over £8750 for the Donna Louise Children's Hospice where we spent time as a family with Ethan after he passed. The following link will take you to our previous fundraising page which has many messages of love for our boy: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/Sarah-Hopes

Unfortunately The Donna Louise Trust, as a charity, then ceased to exist and so we have been looking for another charity to support……..

After Ethan left us, we went on to grow our family through adoption. We found out about a the voluntary adoption agency Adoption Matters through a friend and made our first tentative steps along the road towards adopting our future children. Thanks to our Adoption Matters social worker, we gained eduction, guidance, support and an encouraging hand to hold throughout the whole process. The agency’s service to our family has been, and continues to be, exemplary and with the support of Adoption Matters we have gone on to add 3 more beautiful little people to our family.

To us, our love and loss of precious Ethan was a signpost to start our journey of adoption and so it now seems fitting, from 2025, to fundraise for Adoption Matters in his memory, as a tribute to him and in support of the charity that has done so much for our whole family. We have wonderful joyful memories of our beautiful Ethan and his life has blessed many hearts, including the precious children who have joined our family since he passed. As a family we want to keep celebrating him and continue a legacy for Ethan on this earth. One of the ways we want to do this is by partaking in and organising fundraising events for Adoption Matters as they continue to help grow and support families like ours.

We hope you will support “Ethan's Hope” and give in memory of Ethan and in support of this wonderful adoption agency. We aim for raise £1000 between each of his birthdays. 

Adoption Matters is a children's charity and one of the largest voluntary adoption agencies in the UK. We recruit, train and offer on-going support to our families for life. There are currently over 2,000 children waiting for adoption in the UK right now. Some wait longer than others, we want to help change that.