Blog

By: Avery Greenblatt

Ben Moorhouse and his wife Gaynor Thompson suffered the tragedy of a stillborn child two weeks before the baby’s due date. As part of coping with this terrible loss, Ben completed a 206 mile walk in under 60 hours, in order to raise awareness of the tragedy of stillborn babies.

Ben walked from Edinburgh to Manchester in order to raise funds for Manchester’s Rainbow Clinic, which supports pregnancies for families who formerly suffered from the loss of a baby.

Ben said “I’m extremely proud of the achievement. It was an unbelievable challenge with the constant torrential downpours and the flash floods through the Scottish mountains…This extreme challenge was brutal and to do it non-stop as well with no sleep and overnight stays was so difficult.”

The walk raised over 4,000 pounds for the Manchester Rainbow Clinic. Ben praised the clinic, which researches miscarriage, stillbirth and premature birth. The clinic assisted his wife during the birth of their son 2 years after his stillborn daughter. Ben said “The team in Manchester do a fantastic job in research with regards to stillbirths and they are saving so many babies’ lives. If it wasn’t for [them] our son would have died and that’s a fact.” “I’ve been doing [fundraising] for a number of years now. I think the subject of stillbirths is the world’s biggest taboo.”

Ben’s ability to bounce back from such a tragic experience, and use it as an opportunity to appreciate those who supported his family, and fundraise so that others in his family’s position can be helped is admirable.