In loving memory of Ayla Joy
Ayla Joy who was stillborn on 2 May 2021 at 38 weeks and 5 days.
Ayla was a beautiful girl with a cute button nose and the softest skin. She was a very active baby, always jumping about and kicking me in the ribs! She loved the water, rolling about in my tummy in the sea or the pool.
My partner James and I were lost when we came home to an empty house without our baby girl. All the emotions and then the physical planning you are expected to manage is overwhelming.
I reached out to Red Nose via the peer support line, and they enrolled us in the ‘Hospital to Home’ program.
The H2H program supported us through the transition back into some sort of normality. It provided us with a lifeline, a safe space to talk about Ayla and also guidance on how to navigate our grief, between ourselves and also with the wider community.
I decided to fundraise for Red Nose in honour of my daughter and to be able to give something back.
I wanted to do anything I could to support more research, create more awareness around stillbirth and also keep the Red Nose support options running for other parents.
I created a Red Nose fundraising page online and created a challenge, with my sister, of completing 30 minutes of exercises every day for the time Ayla was growing inside of me - 38 weeks and 5 days - finishing on her one-year birthday anniversary.
I promoted my fundraising page mainly on social media, through Instagram and Facebook, but also word of mouth at work and the gym.
I put posts up of different exercises we completed, showed my community the tracking of exercise through Strava and held monthly group fitness events supported by my friends and local businesses.
Red Nose’s work has a profound impact on helping grieving families and also supporting further research to prevent stillbirth, neonatal death and SIDS. Know that your contribution will help thousands of parents in your community and help reduce the little lives lost each year.
Please help bring some light back into grieving families' lives, this is invaluable.
On Red Nose Day, we will light Ayla’s candle and tell the world how proud we are of her...and it happens to be my stepson Oska’s birthday too, so we will celebrate with cake too!
