Why am I doing this?

The big question - why have I decided to walk the Great Wall of China meaning I have to raise almost £2,500 in sponsorship, get really fit and lose weight as well as change jobs and move house in just 7 months? 

The answer is that just into the New Year my husband, Rob and I excitedly went to the 12 week scan for our first baby only to receive the devastating news that the baby had stopped developing at the 9 week stage and didn't have a heartbeat. 

One of the first questions that I managed to ask the midwife at the hospital was whether the scan showed why this had happened -  hoping to receive a response which would reassure me that there had been nothing that I could have done to prevent it.  In the nicest way possible, I was told that it was 'just one of those things' and that actually 1 in 4 pregnancies end in miscarriage.  Normally, they don't know why miscarriages occur and they are accepted as an inevitable consequence of many pregnancies.  I was actually told that of the 12 women who had attended the same antenatal clinic that I did probably 4 would be given the same bad news.

Flicking through a magazine, I saw an advert for the Genesis Research Trust which mentioned that it conducted research into childbearing issues like miscarriages, stillborns and premature births.  It seemed like a sign - maybe I could do something to make a difference so that scientists could find out what causes these tragedies and hopefully work towards helping less women suffer the heartbreak of losing a baby.

The Genesis Research Trust was set up by the renowned fertility expert, Robert Winston as a centre of excellence for obstetrics and gynaecology to promote the study of healthy childbearing and diseases of women, like ovarian cancer.  You can read more about their work here:

http://www.genesisresearchtrust.com/home