*Update - September 20th 2011*

This Friday 23rd September our good friend Chris Jones is starting his quest to swim the equivalent of the English Channel (21 miles) over 10 days (2.1miles/day) in memory of Reuben... Good luck Chris!!!

*Update - May 20th 2011*

Wow, we're just over the 75% mark already - fantastic. Thank you so much to old colleagues, business partners, friends, family and absolutely everyone who has donated... we are truly grateful...

My brother-in-law, David, is now just about recovered from his exertions at the Belfast Marathon earlier this month! He completed the course in a super 4hrs 30mins - a fantastic time in what were in usually sweltering conditions! Thank you to all the people of Dungannon and Donaghmore in Co.Tyrone who donated to the collection boxes, and to the friends, suppliers and business partners of the Sinnamon's shop in the village.

Our friend Dan (Mountstephen) is up next - he's donning the runners for the Singapore Marathon in a little over a week. He tells me this is the world's only "twilight" marathon - and I'm still pressuring him to get sub-4hrs.. For those of you out there (mainly the old Touchbase crowd...), please support him as much as you can - even if it's being there at the finish line with a cold shandy.

Good luck Dan, thank you David - and thank you to everyone for their support - we are so very grateful..

Love Dan & Jayne xxx

*Update - March 29th 2011*

We're delighted that in less than 6 months we've reached just over half way against our target of raising £10k for the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at the Belfast Royal, where our son Reuben was so carefully looked after. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts to all our friends and family - you have been so generous...

There are a couple of fundraising updates.. Firstly, my brother-in-law (Jayne's brother) David Sinnamon is running the Belfast City Marathon in Reuben's memory - for those of you that know David, he likes a  cigarette, so it's highly impressive that he is now running 14 miles every other day in preparation for the main event on May 2nd..! If you're in town on that Bank Holiday Monday please come down and support him!

On the other side of the world (literally) our very good friend Dan Mountstephen is running the Singapore Sundown Marathon on May 28th. Since he departed these shores, Dan's turned into something of a fitness fanatic and all-round extreme sports officianado so we're expecting a sub-3hour time...!

Both David and Dan are using this page for their supporters to donate, so our huge thanks to both - we are honoured that you've chosen to support our cause..

With love,

Dan  & Jayne

x

 

April 20th, 2010

Dear family, friends and supporters,

As many of you know our son Reuben Daniel Montague died on Monday February 8th, 2010 at the age of just 21 days after suffering lung and kidney complications that he was not strong enough to overcome. We love Reuben dearly, and miss him incredibly, and although we shared only 3 short weeks with him, we will always cherish our little boy. 

Reuben was a beautiful boy - with dark hair and long eyelashes like his daddy, and strong hands that he loved to grip our fingers with. He spent 21 days in the NeoNatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at The Royal Hospital, Belfast fighting his hardest to overcome his problems. When he passed away he looked so at peace and we cherished the hours that we spent as a family saying our goodbyes. He was more than we could have ever wished for and we are enormously proud to call him our son.

Since Reuben's death, we have discovered that he was extremely unfortunate - he had an Exomphalos (an abdominal wall defect) which ultimately affected the formation of his lungs, and subsequently led to the failing of his kidneys and liver. The staff at the NICU were incredibly supportive and worked intensively for 3 weeks to try and help Reuben overcome the many difficulties he faced. Without their support, and guidance, and unbelievable efforts, we would not have spent 21 wonderful days with our beautiful boy - and we will be eternally grateful for the short time that we had with Reuben.

In his memory, we plan to undertake a number of Fund Raising activities, to raise much-needed £££ for SANDS. This charity raises funds to support those families affected by the loss of their baby, and provides money to fund research into neonatal death. Every day, 17 babies die in the UK - and we hope to contribute in some small way to ensuring that other families are not denied a lifetime of memories..

We will be announcing a number of activities over the coming months, and welcome your ideas, advice and input - we would also be delighted if you would like to be actively involved, so please just let Jayne or I know. We would also gratefully accept any donations you wish to make via this website, and these will be donated directly to SANDS, in Reuben's memory..

For more information on SANDS please visit http://www.uk-sands.org/Home.html

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer. So it’s the most efficient way to donate - we raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity.

So please dig deep and donate now.

Thank you for your love and support,

Dan & Jayne

x