Going the extra mile to honour the memory of Louis

Pamela Harvey, Jayne Williams, Ann Trotter and Michelle Ball from Brereton will each be walking 600 miles throughout the year, leading up to the second anniversary of Pamela’s son Louis’s death.

Louis died on September 5, 2019 after he was born prematurely at 25 weeks and suffered a series of serious illnesses before dying at just 52 days old.

After his death, Pamela set up a Facebook page called “Because of Louis” to raise funds for the neonatal unit at New Cross Hospital in Wolverhampton where Louis was treated.

She said the idea of the walking challenge was to help support babies and their families and mark the anniversary of Louis’s death in a positive way.

She said: “The anniversary was coming up and I didn’t want it to be a sad time, but to make sure people knew who he was. We’re hoping to raise £1,000.

"We’re trying to build it up as much as we can as we want to help support parents who have lost their babies.”

Mrs Harvey said the group had done other packages to help families and staff at the neonatal unit, including 100 care packages and more than 140 books for children at Christmas.

The four walkers will take to the streets and roads around Brereton to walk their 600 miles, which Mrs Harvey said was the equivalent of walking to Paris.

It will culminate on September 5 with a walk between Louis’s grave in Hednesford and the neonatal unit at New Cross Hospital, a distance of 20 miles.

She said the challenge was also helping to shine a light on the struggles families go through after losing a baby.

She said: “The more I’m doing this, the more I’m realising that baby loss isn’t really spoken about. It might get talked about for the first few weeks, but parents do struggle and it’s an ongoing battle, so we’re helping to bring this to life as well.

“We’re also aiming to raise funds for a state-of-the-art incubator.”

To make a donation, go to gofund.me/3579ddd3