Yorkshire father embarks on 110-mile extreme charity walk in honour of his stillborn daughter
Ben Moorhouse launched a charity following the death of his daughter
Ben Moorhouse
A bereaved Yorkshire dad is embarking on 110-mile Challenge in memory of his daughter who was stillborn at 37 weeks - just two weeks before her due date.
Ben Moorhouse, 40, from Halifax and his partner Gaynor Thompson lost their daughter Kallipateira six years ago in October 2018 and following the tragedy, launched a charity to raise awareness.
This weekend starting on Saturday, July 13, Ben will walk from Wainhouse Tower in Halifax to Blackpool.
From Blackpool he will then walk to the Maternal and Fetal Health Research Centre and Tommy’s Rainbow Clinic at Saint Mary’s Hospital in Manchester.
Ben Moorhouse launched a charity following the death of his daughterBen Moorhouse Ben is set to walk the 110 miles nonstop and with no sleep and he will be supported by his partner Gaynor Thompson in the support vehicle.
Speaking to GB News, Ben said: "When I held my daughter Kallipateira in my arms six year ago, I made her a promise that as a dad, I would do a proud to not only help other parents and mainly other dads because we are treated very differently, but it was my duty as her father to help save other babies lives.
"It does help with my grief as well. You know, being told that your baby has died two weeks before they're due there is the biggest devastation any parent can face.
"You know, we had to go home for two days after being told still carrying our fully developed full term baby girl, then go back to the hospital to give birth naturally on the very same maternity ward surrounded by crying babies."
Tragically, after Kallipateira was stillborn at 37 weeks in October 2018, Ben and his partner Gaynor experienced a miscarriage in May 2019 at 9 weeks into the pregnancy.
Following the stillbirth of their daughter and miscarriage, to have the best chance of another child with a better outcome, they went under the care of Professor Alexander Heazell of the Tommy’s Rainbow Clinic and Maternal and Fetal Health Research Centre in Manchester.
On May 23rd, 2020, Ben's partner Gaynor Thompson gave birth to their baby boy Apollon in Manchester, who survived due to the love and specialist care from Professor Heazell and his team. The full pregnancy was kept a secret from family and friends.
To help save babies lives through research and support other parents who have experienced the death of a baby, Ben and Gaynor launched their own charity.
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To help save babies lives through research and support other parents who have experienced the death of a baby, Ben and Gaynor launched their own charity
Ben Moorhouse
Speaking to GB News, Ben said: "We're now six years on and you know, I've taken a series of extreme challenges to help save babies lives. And in during lockdown 2020, our son of Apollon was born and he survived.
"We had to go to Saint Mary's Hospital in Manchester to get specialist care from the Tommy's Rainbow clinic through the wonderful Professor Alexander Heazell.
"And if it was not for the support of the team in Manchester, our son would have died. In September Apollon and starts reception school, but he wouldn't be doing that if it wasn't for research."
At the 79-mile stage of the challenge walk, Ben will be joined by Professor Alexaner Heazell who is the director of the Tommy's Stillbirth Research Centre in Manchester.
Professor Alexander Heazell, Director of the Tommy's Stillbirth Research Centre, said: “We are delighted that Ben is completing two amazing challenges for our stillbirth research next year.
"The KM foundation have funded studies that have explored parents' needs for support in pregnancy after loss and to better detect problems after reduced fetal movements.
"We are so grateful for their support to fund stillbirth research that improves care for parents.”
This weekend starting on Saturday, July 13, Ben will walk from Wainhouse Tower in Halifax to Blackpool
Ben Moorhouse
Following his 110 mile challenge this weekend, in August Ben is then travelling to the Greek Island of Rhodes and on August 17 during the height of summer he will take on the islands famous Tsambika Monastery on the East Coast.
The monastery has 300 steps from the bottom to the top and is perched at an altitude of 240m and Ben will be taking this on a total of 100 times in one day.
Ben has already made history on the Greek island when in August 2021 he became the only person to walk around the full perimeter of the island nonstop – a total of 150 miles in 42 hours.
Ben has set himself a target of £10,000 for both extreme challenges with all funds going direct to Professor Heazell and his team to support research to help save babies’ lives.
"Every day in the UK there are on average nine babies stillborn and many of these deaths could have been prevented," Ben told GB News.
"These are beautiful fully developed babies who should be alive. As a grieving dad who each day feels the pain of Kallipateira's devastating death I must now raise more vital funds for Professor Heazell and his team to support research so that other families nationally don’t have to experience the pain that we do every day.“
To donate towards Ben's fundraising challenge, click HERE.