Introducing Sands Northern Ireland

Colin's Story

I have precious few memories of my second daughter. I watched my wife's tummy grow as she grew. And on the cold, grey fuzz of ultrasound, I watched her slowly die.

Daisy looked like all newborns do to their parents. She was pink; she was warm; she was beautiful. But Daisy never breathed and we never heard her cry.

Every week in Northern Ireland four babies die at birth or shortly after. It is a devastating bereavement for parents, siblings, grandparents and friends. The natural order of things seems to be overturned. We expect to bury our parents. We never expect to bury our children.

About the charity

Sands (the Stillbirth and Neonatal Death Charity) is a UK-wide charity with three aims:

• to support anyone affected by the death of a baby;
• to promote good practice in the healthcare profession that could help save babies' lives; and
• to fund and promote research into the causes of stillbirth and neonatal death.

Sands Northern Ireland is a regional network of volunteers under that umbrella. We currently hold monthly support meetings in Belfast, Portadown, Enniskillen and the North West. We also plan to start groups in Ballymena and Newry in early 2009.

In addition to providing support through the group meetings we operate a helpline and telephone befriending service, as well as offering e-mail support. We run training sessions for health professionals across Northern Ireland work in partnership with other bereavement support organisations to organise memorial services and special events.

National Sands currently has a fundraising and awareness-raising campaign called Why17?, highlighting the fact that 17 babies die every single day in the UK as a whole. The aim is to raise £1.7m for further scientific research into the causes of stillbirth with the intention that new antenatal screening techniques and practices that could reduce that figure will be developed.

Sands Northern Ireland has committed to trying to raise £100,000 over the next year as our contribution to the national effort.

Information

More information on Sands Northern Ireland is available from our website: www.sandsni.org, by calling the helpline on 0774 099 3450, or by e-mailing support@sandsni.org.

If you would like to get involved or support us in any way, please do get in touch.