A HEARTBROKEN Hall Green family are raising vital funds for a bereavement unit to mark what would have been their daughter’s first birthday.
Fiona Healy and her husband Kieran were devastated when the 20-week scan revealed their unborn baby had a condition called Encephalocele – where part of the skull has not formed properly and a portion of brain tissue is outside the skull.
The couple made the decision to end the pregnancy and after a traumatic birth Charlotte was born on March 29 at the Eden Suite, a bereavement maternity unit at Heartlands Hospital.
Now they, along with their two other children Oliver and Emily, are hoping to raise £500 for the Eden Suite by organising a family fun day at Moseley Cricket Club on Saturday (March 30).
There will be an 11-a-side football match, raffle and other activities at the Streetsbrook Road club raising funds in Charlotte’s memory.
Fiona said: “I didn’t know what the Eden Suite was but I am so thankful that this is where we were looked after because the care really cant be faulted.
“Obviously I wish I had never walked through the doors but if I had to choose I could not of chosen a better place.
“Through our whole stay the team really couldn’t do enough for us. Nothing was too much trouble.
“The staff did everything they could to make the devastation a little bit easier.”
While on the Eden Suite they were handed a memory box which had been donated to the hospital by Balsall Common-based charity The Lily Mae Foundation.
Fiona added: “The box provided us with everlasting memory’s of Charlotte and without it we would have nothing.
“They thought of all the special little touches that never even crossed my mind but I am so thankful for as we will never get that time back. It is all we have left of Charlotte.
“The first babygrow she wore and the blanket she had for that very short time.
“I look at them and immediately I am back in that place of comfort and although it’s utterly heartbreaking it’s actually also a happy place because it’s where we got to spend precious time with Charlotte.
“Sometimes my photographic memory disappears and I have to refresh my memory by looking at the photos which were taken for us at the hospital and included in the memory box.”
They were also given a bear to remind them of Charlotte by Aching Arms Charity UK.
Fiona said: “Baby loss is truly heartbreaking but you feel like you live in another world to everyone else because nobody understands but having the right support around you really does help.
“The more awareness we raise around baby loss, we can break the taboo and make it easier for people to talk and the easier it will be for bereaved parents to talk about the death of their baby and not feel guilty or awkward.
“People truly don’t know what to say or do but we can change that we can make it just as easy to talk to someone who has lost a child as it is to talk to someone with a baby in a pram.”
For more or to donate visit www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/fundraiserforcharlotte
