Bowie painting raises money for cot death research
Funds raised in memory of three-year-old girl who died in Denton.
A Stockport artist is auctioning an original pop art painting of the late David Bowie to raise money for The Lullaby Trust, after his friend's three year old twin daughter sadly passed away from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rhianna Mo Nora Champion died in her sleep just a week after celebrating her third birthday with her twin brother Ben in January 2013. Her dad David Champion and mum Dawn Pelling are now raising money and awareness to stop it happening to any other familiy in the future.
Dave said: "Rhianna was such a happy little soul, she had a smile for everyone and was just full of energy and joy. We miss her every single day."
" When we put her to bed that night everything was completely normal. In the morning she was gone, just like that - we didn’t even get to say goodbye. Before Rhianna died, her mum and I didn't even know about the risk of Sudden Infant Death in older children - everything you hear is about babies under 12 months old, so we now want to use Rhianna's memory to raise awareness and also to raise funds to support much needed research.
"The Lullaby Trust helped us with counselling and support after Rhianna died. Without them and without Ben to focus on, I really don't know how we would have coped.
"We think about Rhianna every day and if we can use her memory to raise money that stops this happening to just one other child it will mean that her short life has made a real difference."
Sean Slingsby has been friends with Dave since they grew up together in Marple. Outside of his day job as a builder, he spends his spare time painting - and is known among friends and family for his pop art paintings of both famous figures and of people he knows. Each painting is unique, drawn freehand and then hand painted.
To support Dave's fundraising efforts, Sean has donated an original painting of the late David Bowie (pictured) which will be auctioned off to the highest bidder using the charity auction function on eBay.
Sean said: "I have two daughters and can't imagine my life without them in it - losing a child is the worst thing that can happen to anyone and I just wanted to do my bit to help Dave and his family."
To view the auction go to:
A Just Giving page has also been set up, dedicated to Rhianna, to enable people to make a direct donation if they wish.
To donate, visit www.justgiving.com/rememberrhianna
Dave said: "If everyone reading this gave just a pound it would make such a difference. Every additional pound that we can raise for the Trust means that more research can be done and more awareness raising can be carried out to stop this happening to another family."
Dave, Dawn and friends are hoping to raise as much as possible through both direct donations and the auction. All money raised will go directly to The Lullaby Trust.