On October 18th I’ll be taking on a challenge in honour of our baby girl, Aria.

We lost Aria on 29.06.25, less than a month before she was due to be born. Her heart stopped beating, and ours broke with it. In the days that followed, we learned just how many families walk this painful path and how silent it often feels.

This challenge is my way of turning pain into purpose. I’ll be cycling 145km from our home in Surrey to the Kent coast, and then running the entire Viking Coastal Trail: 55km on foot, all in one day.

200km in total for 1 in 200 pregnant women who have to endure this pain.

I'm doing this for Aria. For Deb. For all the families who go through the unthinkable and still find a way to carry on.

What many people don’t realise about a stillbirth is, women still go through full labour. They still get their breast milk. They still face the emotional storm of hormones and the physical realities of birth, all without the joy of bringing a baby home. I watched Deb go through all of that with a strength and resilience that I can’t describe. She is a warrior.

And while the mother carries the physical burden, the partner carries something too, a silent grief. I felt helpless, I felt the heartbreak and the emptiness of going home with a packed hospital bag and an empty car seat.

So this is for the families who’ve lived it. For the ones grieving silently. For anyone who needs to know they are not alone.

I’m raising money for Sands (Stillbirth & Neonatal Death Charity). A charity doing incredible work to support bereaved families, fund vital research, and break the silence around baby loss. Their resources and community have already been such a source of comfort for us.

Your donation will help ensure no family has to walk this road alone and that fewer families ever have to.

If you can support this challenge, no matter how big or small, it would mean the world to us.

Thank you for reading, for donating, and for remembering Aria with us.

Ride. Run. Remember.

Tom