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Hannah Bartholomew and Anthony Smith completed a 12,000-foot skydive to raise money for East Kent Hospitals Charity, to pay for a cuddle cot to allow parents more time to say goodbye to their babies.
The cot has baby Teddie’s name on the side of it, and will be used in the Twinkling Stars bereavement suite at the William Harvey Hospital in Ashford.
Hannah and Anthony, who live in Ashford, raised £1,385 to fund the cot, and visited the hospital with their two older children to see it.
Hannah, 36, said: “We feel so proud that we could do this to help other families.
“The cuddle cot looks like a moses basket and parents can take their babies home in it, and gives them extra time.
“With Teddie, we were able to spend two days in hospital with him, reading him stories, taking photos and making memories that are so important to us now.”
Hannah’s pregnancy with Teddie was uneventful until she started bleeding at 19 weeks and was admitted to hospital. Clinicians hoped to stabilise her but she went into labour a week later and Teddie was born at just 20 weeks, in August 2024.
She said: “We didn’t think it was going to happen; everyone hoped it was going to be okay.
“He was tiny but so perfect, and was the double of our other little boy.
“The cold cot gave us the time we needed to spend with him, and our children and other family members could come and meet him.”
The couple decided on a sky dive after realising they wanted to do something in Teddie’s memory, and it took place at Headcorn airfield.
Anthony, 37, a foreman, said: “I don’t like heights but the adrenaline rush was amazing.
“The view was out of this world and I would love to do it again. We will definitely be doing other challenges to raise money, and I’d like to do a wing walk.”
Hannah added: “I was crying, from the emotion of doing it for Teddie as well as sheer terror on the day.
“We were free-falling for about 15 seconds but it felt like a lot longer.
“We’re so grateful to the charity for letting us do this in Teddie’s memory; I hope we have made him proud.
“Losing him was the worst possible thing to happen, but we still talk about him all the time and our other son Alfie wishes him good night each night at bedtime.
“We are so grateful to everyone who supported us and made this possible so we can help other grieving families and honour our beautiful baby boy.”
Hannah Harvey, fundraising officer for East Kent Hospitals Charity, said: “We cannot thank Hannah, Anthony and their family enough for their kind and generous support.
“As a family they have turned the most unimaginable grief into giving another family a gift of time with their baby and we will be forever thankful. Teddie’s memory will live on with this donation.”
