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Sponsored by: Life After Loss

Plea:

In 2014, 3,564 babies were stillborn or died shortly after birth. This is 10 babies a day that are stillborn from 24 weeks, and a further 684 babies a day that are miscarried under 24 weeks. Whilst running Cherished Gowns it has become apparent to me that babies are considered family members from conception not just 24 weeks of gestation. Every parent who wishes to dress their baby should be able to do so, regardless of their weight, size or gestation.

In September 2014 I co-founded Cherished Gowns UK and run it with the help of Hayley Mullen on a day to day basis. Cherished gowns was set up when we realised how much of a need there was for parents to have access to size appropriate, beautiful items of clothing for their precious babies. We read many heart-wrenching stories of parents being offered at best a very oversized item or at worst nothing.

We spent over 6 months researching the sizes we needed to offer and made the decision to take it one step further and offer a complete outfit. Our cherished gown packs consist of a gown and appropriately sized hat, booties, cloth nappy and a blanket. They also come in 5 sizes from 16 weeks through to full term, and we will make gowns on request for babies that pass away from 0-12 months, with a turn around time of just 1 week. This service is provided free to every UK hospital that has a maternity department.

When we set up cherished gowns we only ever intended to stock the hospitals closest to us, but after a very short time we discovered that this service was really sought after. In April 2015 we sent out our first boxes to UK hospitals and had a truly overwhelming response.

We have grown from strength to strength and now have 1800 volunteers who knit, crochet & sew that have transformed over 8,000 wedding dresses into 20,000 gowns. In the last 2 years we have donated, just under 100,000 items to 241 hospitals, as well as sending out over 800 gown packs directly to parents.

It’s a very hard thing to do, to write about yourself and I struggled greatly to do this. It was suggested I keep a total of how many hours in a week I spend running cherished, and that particular week it was 84 hrs. These hours were made up by organising fundraisers, sorting out the post which can amount to over 150 parcels a week, arranging for brides to send their dresses directly to the seamstresses, making up and sending boxes of gown packs, emails, Facebook messages, answering questions from our volunteers, updating our patterns, liaising with hospitals and funeral directors and sending gown packs directly to parents who for various reasons were not offered a gown pack whilst in hospital with their baby. I do this both both at home and also in our small office in Dover, which is open 3 days a week.

My family are incredibly supportive of my passion for Cherished gowns and I know that often they make sacrifices for me to continue doing this work, and for that I am truly grateful. This has a place deep in my heart and although it can be hard work it is very humbling to know that you are helping parents at one of the most difficult times in their life.

What others have said:

Megan gives so much free time to help supply angel gown packs to hospitals, for bereaved parents to be able to dress their angels.