The care and support we have received from both the Royal Surrey County Hospital and from Surrey Sands (Stillbirth and neonatal death charity) has been fantastic. Our emotional journey and their support have inspired us to raise funds to help others as part of their Forget-Me-Not project. This project, along with other similar projects in hospitals around Surrey and England, aims to provide a private yet fully-manned maternity bereavement suite away from the normal delivery wards to allow families to grieve in peace.

So far through very generous donations and with the help of our family and friends we have raised around £11,500 since May 2009! This has surpassed our expectations and we are enormously thankful to everyone who has donated. The funds have been raised through various opportunities: donations instead of flowers for Ben's funeral; a group of 9 friends and family walking and running the London 10km on 12th July and the sale of some donated tickets for an elite tennis tournament.

Following our fundraising and that of similarly bereaved parents the Forget-Me-Not project now has only £3,500 left to raise. With funds needed to complete this project and for other projects across the whole county we are organising The Surrey Circular Cycle Challenge in memory of our son Ben and children like him.

We hope to be joined in this challenge not only by family and friends but also by other parents who have lost a child during pregnancy, birth or the first few days of life. It is the shared support and understanding of fellow bereaved parents through the charity Sands that has enabled us to draw so many positives from our situation and empowered us to help other grieving parents.

To see how you can help why not read more about the challenge or alternatively you can donate online. If you are interested in cycling all or part of the event why not contact us.