Halifax man takes on gruelling challenge this weekend to raise awareness of stillbirths
Ben Moorhouse, 39, is walking from London to Manchester, a total on 180 miles to raise money for research into stillbirths.
Last updated 15th Jul 2022
In October 2018 Bens daughter Kallipateira was stillborn at 38 weeks of pregnancy in Calderdale and the couple then experienced a miscarriage in May 2019 at 9 weeks of pregnancy. Kallipateira’s death was fully preventable.
Ben and Gaynor launched their own charity to help save babies lives through research and support other parents who have experienced the death of a baby.
Following the stillbirth of their daughter and miscarriage they knew if they wanted to have the best chance of another child with a better outcome, they must be cared for by Professor Alexander Heazell of the Tommy’s rainbow clinic and research Centre in Manchester.
On May 23rd, 2020, Ben and partner Gaynor Thompson gave birth to what they call their "Rainbow baby boy" Apollon in Manchester.
They believe Apollon survived due to the love and specialist care from Professor Heazell and his team. The full pregnancy was a kept a secret from family and friends.
They told us: "Professor Heazell and his team are now the main beneficiary of The Kallipateira Moorhouse Foundation. "
On August 14th, 2021, Ben along with his support team of Gaynor and Jason Croft successfully walked around the full Greek island of Rhodes – a total of 150 miles nonstop and with no sleep in just 42 hours at the height of summer in extreme heat and humidity. Ben was seeing double for the final 30 miles but battled through to the finish line in memory of his much-loved daughter and raised £7,000 for Professor Heazell and his team.
Tomorrow (July 16th, 2022) Ben will now take on his biggest challenge when he will walk from the Tommy’s Research Centre in London at St Thomas’s Hospital to the Tommy’s Rainbow Clinic and Research Centre in Manchester at Saint Mary’s Hospital – a total of 180 miles nonstop and with no sleep.
Ben is looking to do this in 60 hours or less and has set himself a target of £10,000 with all funds going direct to Professor Heazell and his team to support research to help save babies lives.
Ben says “Dads are sadly forgotten about by most of society when it comes to the death of a baby.
"Not a day goes by where I don’t cry for my daughter. Everyone grieves differently and I channel my grief and pain by taking on my extreme challenge walks.
"If I didn’t do what I do for my daughter and to help others in the process It would have been so easy to go down a different path. Every step I make is through the love of my daughter Kallipateira.
"Many stillbirths in the UK are preventable and by supporting research we can help save babies lives. People have done this walk before over a week or more with hotel stops along the way, but I will do this in one go with no sleep along with my support team who it will also be a challenge for."
Professor Alexander Heazell, Director of the Tommy's Stillbirth Research Centre said: “The team at the Tommy’s Stillbirth Research Centre are so grateful to Ben and Gaynor for their donations to support our work to reduce the number of babies dying and to improve care for parents.
"We are in awe of what Ben puts himself through to raise money, in memory of Kallipateira, so that other babies are born healthy and well. We’ll be looking forward to supporting Ben in July and to welcome him when he arrives at the research Centre.”
Ben can be supported by clicking this link.