Grieving Dad to go extra mile for Queen Elizabeth Hospital's birthing centre
A parent who lost one of his daughters stillborn, is running a half marathon to raise funds for the birthing centre at Lynn’s Queen Elizabeth Hospital.
Will Lowry’s baby daughter, Ivy, was stillborn in October 2017 at the QEH Waterlily Birth Centre.
As a result of this, Mr Lowry has pledged to raise funds to help buy more equipment such as resuscitation units, which he hopes will help prevent other families suffering similar trauma in the future.
He will be running the Cambridge half marathon on Sunday, March 3 with a fundraising target of £1,000 set.
Running is something Mr Lowry started doing again to occupy himself after he lost Ivy, and he has used it as a means of fundraising.
He has previously raised over £3,000 for Theresa’s Tiny Treasures after completing Lynn’s GEAR run as well as running the London Marathon in 2000.
“NHS staff are overstretched but they were so helpful during our period in the QEH and did as much as they could,” Mr Lowry said.
“It’s just a case of whether we can help someone in the same situation and to help the nurses as well.”
Mr Lowry has so far raised over £520 of his £1,000 target on his GoFundMe page, which can be found at www.gofundme.com/raising-money-for-qeh-waterlilly-birthing-centre.
He added: “One of the main reasons is to try and raise the awareness of stillbirth because it happens more than people realise and it’s a bit of a taboo subject.
“There are definitely people who have been through the same scenarios so I’m just trying to get that message across.”
His four-year-old daughter India won a competition in association with The Lynn News and Greenyard Frozen to switch on last year’s Christmas light at the top of the Hardwick Industrial Estate factory.
India’s mother said Ivy would be able to see the star from heaven after it had been switched on by her older sister.
Mr Lowry, who lives in Lynn, will be running the half marathon with his friend Mark Demonty and spoke to Catherine Weatherill at the QEH over the weekend to discuss his fundraising goals.
During the meeting, Mrs Weatherill informed Mr Lowry that money raised would be well spent and they drew up a list of ideas the funds would go towards at the birthing centre.
These include new text books, equipment for looking in babies’ eyes during checks, warm heat pads for labour, in-ear thermometers and a staff feedback display.
Mr Lowry has also said he would be willing to hold a raffle to raise additional funds.
If any local companies would like to donate prizes, they should contact him on 07920 211486.
On his GoFundMe page, Mr Lowry describes the pain experienced after having a stillborn child.
It says: “What was supposed to be a happy joyous occasion for our family and friends turned into a living nightmare.”
