The CHUMS Babyloss service is there to provide support at the most difficult time of any parent’s life. We have received many touching testimonials from parents who have used the service. To find out more about the service, please visit the CHUMS Website: https://chums.uk.com/babyloss/

Karen arranged sessions around my need when anniversaries and hard dates were coming up she arranged more frequent contact. Also during my recent pregnancy, and before bringing my rainbow baby home karen provided weekly contact with me to help me after my hospital appointments which I was very anxious about.

Karen also spent time explaining things to me more fully that the hospital didn’t. Her support has been invaluable in my coping following loss.

Chums is a fabulous service but what really makes it are the wonderful people who support those who access the service.

As I have said above Karen has helped me through the hard first anniversaries and also through my pregnancy after loss.  Karens support words of encouragement, and letting me talk through my thought processes and give me the time to do so helped more than i can express in words.

Karen also allowed me to discuss in our sessions issues with my first born who has ASD and we have had difficult transitions with him starting school and obtaining support for him. I felt karen was a true confidant and I really shared my innermost feelings. I even messaged Karen as one of the first people post family and close friends after the birth of our rainbow baby boy. Thank you so much for all you do.

Jan, no words can thank you enough for pulling me through the rollercoaster of emotions I endured over the few years of knowing you. I’m so pleased I made that phone call that day. Your support is invaluable.

I hope one day I can inspire other bereaved parents to believe they can pull through it and live again.

The 121 sessions with Jan helped me so much. Having one person to offload to who was not part of my day to day life, someone who understood me, how I was feeling and always knew the right thing to say! Jan pulled me through my darkest days, taught me how to deal with those dark emotions and remember my babies for the beautiful souls they were.

She taught me to let their memories live on and enjoy my living children. I could go on but conclusively no words will ever explain how CHUMS has helped me deal with the loss of my babies. The group sessions were also helpful, although I did find it difficult reliving the story several times over – everyone is different. I hope my story inspired other bereaved parents and one day, I hope to volunteer to the service.

Again, I thank Jan, Karen and the rest of the team. The work you do is absolutely incredible and helps so many.

Luke, his Mum Charlotte, and mascot Keith the Highland Coo have achieved something incredible for CHUMS by completing the 96-mile West Highland Way walk and raising just under £1,800, with donations still coming in.

Luke was inspired by his Mum’s previous walks and wild camping stories, and decided he wanted to take on the challenge to help raise awareness of children’s mental health and the work CHUMS does to support children, young people and adults.

The challenge took 7 days, averaging 8-10 hours walking and completing between 12-16 miles a day. They walked a massive 19 miles on day three.

Luke was well prepared, having trained with a well-planned schedule, including walking, body weight strength training and mobility stretching. When asked where he trained for the challenge, Luke explained “We trained in Scotland near the Cairngorms and then the Yorkshire Dales, and we did lots of little walks with the dog round here (Bedfordshire).”

“I am so incredibly proud of Luke. The walk was all his own idea and he had been excited from the get-go. To be able to share his adventure was amazing; to see his determination and be there to support him when he needed.” Charlotte said: “The shared experience built some amazing memories and I’m sure this won’t be his last challenge.”

Luke said “It felt brilliant finally completing the challenge. I learnt so much about the route as well as myself. My favourite memory is probably paddling in Loch Lomond with mum to cool off our hot, sore feet. Soon I hope to do the Pembrokeshire coast.”

During the hike, Luke and Charlotte were able to raise around £200 by talking about their efforts to fellow hikers – Charlotte had the link to Luke’s fundraising page through a QR code which she used to encourage donations.

Luke’s choice to fundraise for CHUMS stemmed from a desire to fundraise for a smaller, local charity and in particular, one he has known for most of his life as his schools regularly fundraises for CHUMS. He knows people who have benefited from the mental health support they provide.

Nik Demetriades, Charity Director of CHUMS Charity, said “All of us at CHUMS would like to send our heartfelt congratulations to Luke and Charlotte for what they’ve achieved in completing the West Highland Way walk – it’s an incredible achievement! And our message to them is that the amazing sum of money that they’ve raised will be put to good work supporting the work CHUMS does to help children and young people who are struggling with their mental health and emotional wellbeing. Thank you Luke – you really are an inspiration to us all!”

Luke and Charlotte may have completed their amazing journey, but there’s still plenty of time to donate to Luke’s Just Giving page.

Find out more about our latest challenges

Royal Parks Half Marathon

Fun, Fashion and Fizz

Snowdon at Night

Hertfordshire Half Marathon

Run Alton Towers 10k

Run Alton Tower Half

Run Alton Towers 5k

Here at CHUMS, our Baby Loss Bereavement Service has been running for 11 years, supporting bereaved parents and families – and some bereaved grandparents – who have experienced the devastation of losing their child.

To mark Baby Loss Awareness Week and help reassure other parents that they aren’t alone, Dibby and Paul have kindly shared their experience of the support provided by CHUMS.

Dibby and Paul’s story

We were referred to Chums when we lost Harry at 22 weeks. This was our eighth loss in total.

Karen was our case worker, who helped us through this devastating time. She recognised when we were at our lowest, giving us additional support and I’m not sure where we would be today without her.

We started off with weekly sessions with Karen to talk about our losses, which gradually over time decreased in frequency to bi-monthly sessions. Karen also referred me to counselling, which was extremely beneficial to my recovery from the mental trauma that I was suffering from. My Husband had monthly one to one meeting where he could talk openly about how he was feeling.

Chums offers so many additional support networks over the one to one sessions. My husband attends a bi-monthly Dad’s group which has helped his recovery.

The memory picnics in the summer are so special and we get to make memory keepsakes in memory of our babies. The Snowdrop Remembrance service at Christmas is also special as it has enables us and other bereaved families to come together to remember our babies and give support to each other. Both of the remembrance days are so special and let people remember without any judgement from others, as everyone is there for the same sad reason.

Without chums we would have had no support at one of the most difficult times of our lives. I will always be grateful for everything they have done for us and everything they continue to do.

About Baby Loss Awareness week

Baby Loss Awareness Week runs from 9-15 October this year. Delivered by the Baby Loss Awareness Week Alliance, the campaign aims to support bereaved parents and families and to unite them with others across the world to commemorate their babies’ lives and lost pregnancies.

It is a wonderful opportunity to bring those affected together as a community and reassure anyone touched by pregnancy and baby loss that they are not alone.

If you have been affected and wish to find out more about the services being offered to bereaved families, visit the Baby Loss section of our website to find out more.

One of our own team members, Diane is fundraising for us and has taken on a particularly chilly challenge!

Diane started open water swimming earlier in 2023; her first swim was at Stanwick. After joining a group of Milton Keynes swimmers called The Milton Keynes Bluetits Chill Swimmers and building her confidence, Diane decided to brave the winter waters and has so far completed 15 out of 25 planned winter swims!

Diane said, “I challenged myself to do 25 cold water swims over the winter months from 1 November 2023 to the end of March this year (2024). These swims are taking place in lakes, rivers, tarns and outdoor lidos. Some have been in the rain, some have been in freezing cold conditions.”

“I’m doing this because CHUMS provides mental health and emotional wellbeing support to as many children and young people across Bedfordshire as possible. Without support from fundraisers and donors CHUMS would not be able to provide this support to the children, young people and families who otherwise may not receive help when they need it most.”

If you would like to support Diane’s efforts, please visit her Just Giving page.