Name: Samantha  Boatwright

Organisation:

Award Category: Inspirational Mother

Sponsored By:

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My Plea:

Hi I’m Sam, mummy to Emmy and now the face behind thelittleangelmamacollection and the angel mama meet ups in the UK.
I’ve always wanted to be a mummy as long as I can remember. Friends are all go on careers etc, I want to be a mama. I want a big busy family where it’s always hectic.

My beautiful daughter Emmy Rose became an angel on November 30th 2018 after 3 beautiful weeks and two days earth-side. Neurologically, her brain didn’t form correctly when I was pregnant but we wanted to give her the best fighting chance at life possible. She surprised the doctors every day as they thought she would pass in pregnancy. We were offered termination up to 35 weeks. Everything I do now is with Emmy in my heart, and I know so many angel mamas and families who are the same. When Emmy was born she wasn’t breathing so she was on the life support all of her life. Deciding to take this off was the most difficult decision a parent can ever, ever be faced with and it makes my heart so heavy just to think about it. But we had to let our beautiful daughter go, she was in pain in her seizures and having no quality of life. We took the life support off and she breathed by herself for 3 days and even opened her eyes. Our little Emmy bear, we are so proud of you and live life for you every day. I feel like I have been through a war that I didn’t sign up for and am still in the depths of grief with it coming up to emmys first birthday.

I have met some unbelievable women on my journey and I am so amazed by their strength and courage each day. However, what isn’t so great is that fact that babyloss is still such a taboo in society. It isn’t talked about enough and I’m sure so many of us want to change that moving forwards and are doing great work to do so.

I’ve always been passionate about clothes and I know that there are lots of brands out there that have clothes for mamas, but what about us angel mamas? I started speaking to angel mamas and families and it soon became clear that we want the world to know about our babies, we want to shout loud and proud because we are amazed by them everyday. Just like mummies with living babies are. So really that was the start of thelittleangelmamacollection as I know we are all proud of our babies and proud to be angel mamas and daddies.

Another small group I’ve set up which is growing constantly is the angel mama meet ups. I envisioned something relaxed and informal, like a brunch I have with my friends for example, but with angel mamas. Something ‘normal’. Our first brunch was in London and ITV attended along with the Metro writing an article about it and the collection. There was 35 mamas there. There was a lot of tears! A lot of hugs, but mostly a lot of smiles. We made gift bags for the mamas, special things for their babies gifted from small companies around the UK. We have had wonderful feedback and the organisation is growing with now 48 women attending in London at the end of September for the London meet-up. We had 30 at the first Manchester meet-up and will be doing a Christmas type meal there.

A couple of friends have said recently : ‘Sam was one of the first mummy’s I was in contact with when my daughter died and she’s become a very close friend who inspires me daily to be better . Her collection is just so beautiful and she’s got no idea what it means to us angel mummies to have t- shirts named after our babies , when our babies are remembered and honoured it is what we live for now . Sam gives all her time to making sure we are all connected with her angel meet ups and these have helped me more than anything else . Sam is truly an inspirational mummy in every way she loves so deeply and she honours Emmys every day by being the amazing mummy she is . And being a mummy without a baby in your arms is the toughest way to live . But Sam gets up every day and puts smiles on so many faces even when she’s broken . I am so grateful that our babies brought us together I just it wasn’t because we had to say goodbye ‘.

Everything Sam has done since losing Emmy has been in her name, because of her love for her and Sams passion for the community of bereaved parents who have been through what she has, the worst thing. Sam wants to hold these parents up and celebrate their babies with them. Her love for Emmy is what has done that and has kept her going through the depths of grief and despair. She is so open and honest about all the feelings and make people feel safe in this vulnerable place. A huge part of that is the collection which has created a voice, a message to the world that our children matter and are as valid as the ones who are physically in their parents arms. That is why you are nominated and should win the Inspirational mother award’.

What Others Have Said

This woman has been my rock. She messaged me through Instagram not long after my son had died, she asked me whether I would be interested in an ‘angel mama’ meet up. This was something that had never crossed my mind but I never knew would be so important. Over the weeks, I became very close to Sam and her daughter Emmy. I learnt their story and supported her through the best thing she has done for everyone. Just having Sam to talk to was amazing enough, let alone her arranging all us mums to meet, gifting us beautiful stuff with our babies name on and then bringing out a clothing collection which allows us bereaved mothers to still say, yanno what I am a mother.