Kind-hearted couple launch charity in memory of their daughter
A couple from Plymouth have launched a charity which will support bereaved parents who have suffered neonatal loss or stillbirth.
Aimee and Ryan Conroy felt compelled to do something to help future bereaved parents after their little girl, Luna Valentina Conroy, was sadly born sleeping in November 2017.
“We wanted to embrace a new journey,” said Aimee and Ryan. “Something we could channel all our love and energy into on behalf of our Luna.”
The charity, Luna’s Fund, aims to offer an array of services for families to use, in order to create new memories.
Examples of the services offered by Luna’s Fund will include:
- Redecoration of the baby’s nursery for parents who choose that this room is too painful for them to endure daily; to restore the room to its original/alternative use
- A relaxing getaway to help both the mind recovering from trauma and the body recovering from labour, allowing parents to have some time out to process what has happenedFood hamper deliveries to help reduce the lack of appetite whilst promoting nutritional goodness; to offer comfort through small luxuries and to allow the family to avoid facing the reality of grocery shopping and social environments in the early stages.
Luna's Fund was launched in memory of Luna Conroy Sue Wilkins, Director of Midwifery and Associate Director of Nursing at University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust said: “The wrap around care while people are still with us in hospital is all encompassing; it therefore feels a huge contrast when families go home after bereavement. In comparison to whilst under the care of the hospital it can feel a very lonely time.
“Aimee and Ryan spent a lot of time reflecting on what would have made a difference to their experience after Luna tragically died. The services they are offering are resultant to all of that deliberation. The candle, as a way to share information with other bereaved parents about Luna's Fund and the support it can offer them, is ingenious and far better than another leaflet. Candles were hugely significant in Aimee's labour with Luna and it's now something that families can physically take away with them, light and remember that Luna's Fund are there to support them.
“Having worked with Aimee and Ryan we've committed to ensuring women who have experienced loss through their pregnancy* or birth will receive this candle to make them aware that Luna's Fund exists and is there to offer the practical support Aimee and Ryan would have so valued when they lost Luna.
“We are so lucky to be supported by many families who continue to support our services by raising money and making an offer to other families in a similar situation to their own. Aimee and Ryan are a classic example of that.”
*After 24 weeks gestation
How to contact Luna's Fund:
www.lunasfund.com
www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/lunasfund
www.instagram.com/lunasfund
