This appeal will allow the Trust to improve its maternity bereavement care, ensuring that patients receive a gold standard of care.
Maxine and Adam sadly lost their daughter Willow at Doncaster Royal Infirmary (DRI). The couple were able to gain access to a private room where they could stay with Willow and give their family the opportunity to come to visit her until they were all ready to say goodbye.
‘The Serenity Appeal’ will ensure that more patients can get access to a room where they can grieve in privacy, like that which Maxine and Adam received. It will fund the creation of a specialist bereavement suite for DRI, the purchasing of a mobile ultrasound scanner for Bassetlaw Hospital’s Early Pregnancy Assessment Unit (EPAU), and allow the refurbishments of the two EPAU counselling rooms across both sites.
The group taking on the challenge, entitled The Willow Wanderers’, wanted to support the Trust in reaching their £150,000 target by taking on the Three Yorkshire Peaks.
Maxine said: “I wanted to do something that would challenge myself, rather than doing something that I would find easy. The people who know me know that climbing up three big hills is not going to be something that I will be looking forward to, but it is for such an important cause, and we are happy to do what we can to support the appeal.
“Raising the awareness of baby loss is a massive deal. I have spoken about it to a few people since this has happened to me and found out that three people, who I have known for a long time, have also gone through it. Opening up and allowing people to tell their story is a massive thing.”
Rhian Morris and Mathew Proctor are the bereavement midwives at the Trust. Rhian passed on her thanks to Maxine and those taking part in the challenge. She said: “We would like to express our thanks to all of the Willow Wanderers’ for the fantastic efforts that they are putting in to help us to lead and further the maternity bereavement services within South Yorkshire, enabling our Trust to be a leader in gold-standard bereavement care for our families.
“We think that it is of the utmost importance to ensure that we can offer as many patients as possible the service that both Maxine and Adam received. Giving someone absolute privacy at such a tragic time helps ensure that those, who sadly do have to go through this terrible experience, start their grieving process in the best way possible.”
If you would like to donate to Maxine and Adam’s amazing fundraising efforts, you can do so through their just giving page which can be found here – https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/thewillowwanderers. There are also a number of ways that you can donate to the appeal, whether you want to make a one-off donation, take part in a sponsored event, or create your own fundraising project – please head to https://dbthcharity.co.uk/serenity-appeal/ for more details.
If you have questions or would like to request more information in regards to this appeal, or for any other charitable project at the Trust, please contact the Charity Team on Tel: 01302 644244, email: DBTH.Charity@nhs.net or head to http://www.dbth.nhs.uk/charity.