Amazing AND SELFLESS…

Despite their own grief, these amazing parents have raised huge sums for our maternity bereavement suite. The current total on our Just Giving site stood at almost £82,000 at the time of writing.

Laura Hunt And Baby George

In October 2022, at 31 weeks pregnant, Laura and Matthew Hunt’s world was turned upside down when their perfect baby boy George, was born sleeping.

Despite their own heartbreak, the couple wanted to give something back to say thank you for the amazing care they received from staff at James Cook Hospital

With no real plan at the time of where the money could go or how much they might raise, the couple set up a Go Fund Me page.

Laura explains: “All of our family and friends wanted to do something to help but they didn’t quite know what.

“We were getting lots of flowers and we just thought, if we do this, it will be something better.”

The much-loved couple had raised £5,000 within a couple of weeks.

The couple hadn’t been told about the new room that was planned for bereaved parents until they got home and one of their friends who works in the hospital commented “it’s a shame the new room wasn’t ready”.

After that, it became obvious where they wanted the money to go.

“Going through it firsthand, you realise what’s missing,” Laura says.

“After I delivered George, two hours later another baby had been delivered and we could hear that baby crying. “We had such a great set of midwives around us and you think, ‘just imagine what they could do with better facilities’.

“Anything we could try to do just to improve that situation in the future was great.”

Matty, Laura’s husband, had his heart set on holding a charity night in memory of baby George, which took place in February.

Laura’s organisational skills and decorative flair meant the room at the North Ormesby Institute also known as The Big Tute, was transformed, including George’s name in lights, balloons in the charity’s colours and ladies in burlesque outfits adding a touch of class to the proceedings.

With ticket sales and raffles and the family footing the bill for all the decorations, the event raised £8,000 in total.

Speaking of the emotional but successful night, Laura said: “Tina, my midwife who delivered George, and Tracey, my bereavement midwife, were also there. It was so nice of them to be there.”

Overall, the couple, their family and friends have raised £16,775.

“My original target was £5,000 and when we hit that it changed to £10,000, then £15,000,” Laura says.

“It just grew and grew!

“I think it really helped us with the grief process. When we hit a new milestone, we felt warm. We do feel amazing that we’ve achieved that much.”