Since losing our son Cooper to SIDS in 2018 aged just six weeks old, we have been raising money for The Lullaby Trust in his memory. To date, we’ve reached a grand total of £56,628 . We initially created Cooper’s MuchLoved page as we wanted to donate his funeral funds to The Lullaby Trust.
Over time, we realised that fundraising was an opportunity to create a legacy for Cooper with a few goals - help families like us, contribute to the research on SIDS to reduce numbers and nurture Cooper's memory.
Like other who may be reading this , we were suddenly thrust into the most devastating and life-changing situation. We often found that people didn’t want to talk about Cooper, but through our fundraising, those conversations have started to take place more comfortably. We want everybody to know his name and we want everybody to remember him.
Seeing friends and family complete events with his name on their tops and promoting his page and the cause across social media along the way is beautiful. This is not close to making up for our loss but being able to turn such a horrendous situation into something positive that can help others, like us, is something that will forever fill us with immense pride.
Along with the support of our friends and family, we’ve used our MuchLoved page to fundraise for numerous charity events. We’ve set up everything from football matches to sponsored walks and various running challenges from 10k distance to marathon.
Our most recent event saw a group of about 20 take on the Manchester Marathon followed by the Great Manchester Run and raise an incredible £14,534 in the process. By far my favourite moments of our fundraising journey were seeing my children, Cooper’s brothers and sisters, at mile 20 of the Manchester Marathon and watching his incredible mum complete the Great Manchester Run.
Our goal is to hit the £100,000 mark over time. At the start of 2024 we weren’t sure if even £50,000 was achievable, but here we are partway through 2024 and Cooper’s fund is at £56k , so we believe that anything is possible. Having conquered most running distances, there is talk of triathlons, ultra marathons and skydives – we’ll see what’s next on the road to £100k…
We are immensely proud of the money raised to date and it’s comforting to know that by doing so we are creating a legacy for Cooper, promoting his name and ensuring his memory lives on forever. Knowing that the money raised is helping families like us and contributing to hopefully one day ensuring this doesn’t happen to anybody else is comforting.
Other than the birth of our children, the money we're raising for The Lullaby Trust will be one of our greatest life achievements.