‘Angel’ Harper’s legacy to help grieving families
PARENTS RAISE £12,000 FOR HOSPITAL SUITE IN DAUGHTER’S MEMORY AFTER STILLBIRTH TRAGEDY
A COUPLE have opened a new hospital suite in memory of their baby daughter.
After their little girl Harper was stillborn two years ago, Kimberley and Christian Ellison raised £12,000 to give other bereaved families the ‘gift of time’ with their little ones.
Harper Rose came along on November 10, 2018, at 5lbs 6oz, after a full-term pregnancy.
The couple were heartbroken as Harper arrived stillborn and began searching for a way to move forward with their lives.
Kimberley, 36, and Christian, 38, spent a few days in the Royal Bolton Hospital’s butterfly room, spending precious time with their family and their daughter before they had to say a final farewell.
“Harper Rose was too perfect for this world and was needed amongst the angels to light up everyone’s lives from up above,” said Kimberley.
“Before parting with her, we were able to spend many happy hours as a family, kissing her, cuddling her and telling her how much she is loved by everyone around her.”
But the mum says there were five other families just like her own, suffering the loss of their baby on the same weekend, who would not have been able to use the bereavement room as Harper happened to arrive first.
Kimberley, a primary school teacher from Bolton, said: “We found out that there were five other families like us that weekend and we decided there and then that we wanted to raise this money.
“We wanted to give the precious and irreplaceable time we had to other families who have sadly had to experience the loss of their baby.”
Bravely turning their grief into action, that very weekend they committed to raising £2,500 for the hospital in memory of Harper and brought together the local neighbours and businesses to help fundraise.
In just 24 hours, they had beaten their target. Four months later, they had achieved enough to build a brand new bereavement room on the hospital’s maternity unit – The Harper Rose Suite.
The room comes complete with a kitchen, bed and soundproofing so families can spend time together in peace and privacy.
Kimberley said: “Everything in this room has come from us, we chose the wallpaper, the colours, we did the window.”
Sally Basu, deputy head of Midwifery at Bolton NHS Foundation Trust, said: “We’re so grateful to Kimberley and Christian for their kind donation which has allowed us to create The Harper Rose Suite.”