STILLBIRTH STILL MATTERS

STILLBIRTH STILL MATTERS!

Its been a couple of weeks since my last blog, and to be honest with you I have had a tough few weeks.

Running the foundation is really rewarding but its also emotionally draining. It gives me a great sense of satisfaction knowing we are raising money to help others whilst keeping Isabella's name alive, but the downside is it constantly brings into focus that Isabella is not here and she should be!

It was my birthday last week and it really hit me that Isabella would have been visiting her granddad with her mum, but instead I was visting Isabellas grave.

I consider myself to be a strong person who has the ability to just get on with things, to be the strong one when the rest of the family are struggling. However recently thats not been the case so I decided to take a break from the foundation for a couple of weeks even though I still did work on the upcoming ball.

Then last night Nicola and I attended a fundraising night set up by Rachel Buckley. Rachel is a similar age to my daughter and like my daughter her and her partner Scott's little girl; Scarlett Aurora Campbell was stillborn in Whiston hospital.

We didn't know Rachel or her family before Isabella and Scarlett became Angels and we hadn't even met them before last night. We heard of their story through someone who works with Nicola and we became in contact through the power of twitter and in the last couple of months became friends with her and other members of her family including her wonderful mum Debbie.

Rachel is inspirational! Through the tragedy of what has happened to them they, like us are trying to make a difference and help others in the same situation. They do this by raising the awareness of stillbirth and fundraising for their chosen charity Tommys. (They raised over £3,000 last night)

Their message is simple but powerful Still Birth Still Matters!


Rachel last night gave a very emotional speech sharing with us Scarlett's story. It isn't my place to tell you all the details but briefly Rachel was 9 days overdue when they lost Scarlett through a complication with her amniotic fluid. Her bravery in telling Scarlett's story had everyone in tears last night.

Rachel believes that Scarlett would have been saved if she had had a ultra sound scan in the later stages of her pregnancy, and this is something we also believe would have saved Isabella.

At the moment the vast majority of women have their last scan at 20weeks basically half way through the pregnancies! What happens if in the later part of the pregnancy you develop a problem? The answer is simple nothing! Isabella died as a result of a placenta abruption at 26 weeks. this was undetected and she was stillborn at 31weeks. A simple ultra sound scan would have spotted this and maybe just maybe she would have been saved.


The same applies to Scarlett and a scan in the third trimester would have highlighted a potential problem and maybe she too could have been saved.

Rachel and her family have set up a government e-petition fighting for a compulsory scan in the third trimester of a pregnancy. This simple procedure undoubtably would save lives yet we don't do it whilst other countries do! You have to ask yourself why we dont do this and the answer is probably because of the cost. Yet how much does this actually cost and how much of a cost can you put on a life.

We fully intend to support the e-petition our families may have lost our Angels through different reasons yet this one change could and we believe would have saved them both!

We have some amazing family, friends, supporters and followers who have been more than generous in making donations to our foundation and supporting our cause.

We know we can't and we won't constantly ask for you donations,  this time all we are asking is you click on the link below and sign this e-petition.

It does NOT cost you a single penny but would mean the world to our two families.

e-petition Link      
http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/33799


We wouldn't have met Rachel, Scott, Debbie or the rest of their family if we both hadn't experienced the pain that still birth causes.

Our Angels have brought us together for a reason, lets make it count!


David 

Ps If you want to follow Rachel on twitter her name is rachel_buckley88 and her mum is debbiebuckley. Please show them your love and support.