"We lost Isabella on the 19th January 2018 (she was born in the 20th) following a critical illness and lifesaving surgery for her Mummy. She was absolutely perfect and we are left completely broken without her.

One of the only ways that we found to give us some comfort at this extremely traumatic time was to try and raise some money to fund a cuddle cot for Southport hospital where Bella was born. This is a vital piece of equipment for a stillborn baby and their family as it allows for all of them to spend as much time as possible together before saying their final goodbyes.

As Isabella’s Mummy I am so grateful that she was eventually able to be put in a cuddle cot so that 3 days later when I woke up and was taken off the life support machine we were able to spend some precious time together. There was the issue of the cot having to be transferred from another NHS site though and I wanted there to one in the hospital that Bella was born in order to prevent this in the future. Also, in the event of there tragically being 2 angel babies at the same time it would not be fair for one family to miss out on making precious memories with their little one.

 

For various reasons following the traumatic bowel resection I underwent I was incapacitated and in hospital for a further 8 weeks however; under different circumstances the parents have the option of spending many days with their precious baby or even taking a little trip home if that’s what helps with their grief. This is such a precious thing to be able to do.

 

We were delighted to finally hand over the cot to Southport hospital in January 2019 in time for Bella’s 1st birthday and we are now fundraising for cots to be placed in many other trusts. We will be doing various fund raising events to be able to fund the equipment and then once we have done that we will look into more things to do to help grieving family’s at this awful time. We have already held a couple of charity evenings and both Bella’s Daddy and her big brother have both done marathons! We have also just finished raising money to donate to Salford Royal H8 intestinal unit where there will be a day room dedicated to Isabella. We are also donating to the colorectal surgery department to help towards the training of the new surgeons and doctors.

 

Without these people at this incredible hospital, I would not be here today, they have taken care of me both emotionally and physically all along this horrendous journey. Throughout all of my raw grief and health problems I really just want to do something to help others... particularly as we are doing it all in remembrance of our beautiful baby girl, Isabella Jayne"