BAE worker and Lytham GP surgery manager wife from Wesham brave huge challenge in honour of stillborn daughter
“We have been absolutely blown away by the support we have received from family, friends and work colleagues. We are so grateful.”
A couple took an extra step to raise cash for a charities helping support families who lose their babies to stillbirth, miscarriage or shortly after birth.
Wesham couple Tony and Sophie Spedding, whose first born baby, daughter Rosie, was stillborn in March, have donated £3,645 to be shared by Baby Beat and Petals to help the charities support other families.
Tony, an engineer at BAE Systems in Warton, ran five miles a day every day in August to raise the funds while Sophie, an operations manager for a Lytham GP surgery, walked 5km a day throughout the month.
The couple set up an online donation page which initially had a £500 target.
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Tony, a former centre midfielder for Wrea Green FC, said: “We have been absolutely blown away by the support we have received from family, friends and work colleagues. We are so grateful.”
Tony and Sophie, a keen horsewoman, are splitting their donation so that 70 per cent of the funds go to Baby Beat and the remainder to Petals.
Tony said: “Baby Beat funded a suite, the Butterfly Suite at the Royal Preston Hospital’s Sharoe Green Maternity Unit, in which Sophie gave birth.
“It had a special cot, a cold cot, that allowed us to spend precious time with our beautiful little girl until we had to say goodbye. Baby Beat provided so much to us both and unfortunately, this charity will be needed by many more parents facing the trauma of bereavement.
“Petals provided five funded specialist counselling sessions that were delivered with compassion and tailored to us. These sessions have given us both comfort, coping mechanisms and the tools to process our loss. My wife is stronger than superwoman. We are both doing well with the grieving process.”
Lucy Clark, fundraiser for Baby Beat, said: “We are very grateful to Tony and Sophie for their incredible donation. Thank you to everyone who backed them in what were physically tough, personal challenges at a really difficult time.
“For Tony and Sophie to raise funds for ourselves and Petals so soon after losing Rosie is testament to their strength and selflessness.”
Besides bereavement services, Baby Beat, which is part of the Lancashire Teaching Hospitals Charity family, funds specialist equipment, other patient services and comforts, clinical care, local research and training to benefit mums and newborns from the Preston and Chorley area, who use the Royal Preston Hospital’s Sharoe Green Maternity Unit for their maternity care and delivery.
The charity also supports Lancashire and South Cumbria’s specialist Neo Natal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), which is within the Sharoe Green Maternity Unit. NICU looks after between 400-450 of the most premature and poorly babies from across the two counties and their families annually.