New charity, Teddy’s Wish, has launched its official website www.teddyswish.org following the death of 3 month old Edward Louis Reid to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) in April 2014.

Founded by Edward’s parents, Jennifer and Chris Reid, Teddy’s Wish has already raised over £60,000 from its first event, a 100 mile cycle ride. Teddy’s Wish raises funds for The Lullaby Trust, the leading SIDS charity, and Sands, the leading stillbirth and neonatal death charity.

Jennifer Reid said: “When we said goodbye to Edward in the hospital, we vowed that we would live our lives to make him proud.  We told him we would do everything to honour his name. We founded Teddy’s Wish to keep our promise to him and provide our broken lives with a purpose.”

In the UK, 270 babies die suddenly and unexpectedly every year without reason and around 6,200 babies are stillborn or die shortly after birth. The funds raised will aid further research into SIDS, stillbirth and neonatal deaths and to support other grieving families.

Sands Chief Executive, Neal Long, said: “We are hugely grateful to Teddy’s Wish for their extraordinary contribution to tackling this most devastating of experiences: the death of a baby. At Sands, as well as offering support to bereaved parents and working with health professionals to improve their care and treatment, we are dedicated to identifying the causes of stillbirth and neonatal death and working to significantly reduce the number of families whose lives are shattered in this way. Funding from Teddy’s Wish has already enabled us to commission a significant piece of research into the economic costs of stillbirth. With their support we will be able to expand other areas of work including our work supporting families, as well as ensuring the evidence is there to bring about real change to policy and practice and prevent more babies from dying unnecessarily.”

Lullaby Trust Chief Executive, Francine Bates, said: “As a result of the phenomenal response to Teddy’s Wish, we are thrilled the charity has already been able to fully fund a Research Gap Analysis project for the Lullaby Trust. This will help us identify new areas of research which may hold the key to reducing the numbers of babies who die from SIDS even further in the future.”

The website was created by award winning digital agency Cyber-Duck. Managing Director, Danny Bluestone, said: “We’re proud to be supporting such a worthy charity as Teddy’s Wish.

“SIDS, stillbirth and neonatal death bring unspeakable suffering to the families involved and it would be amazing to imagine a world where such tragedies no longer existed. Teddy’s Wish is really working towards that goal.”

Ends

Notes to Editors:

For press inquiries, please contact the Sands press office or Melissa Lehrer on melissa@lemonade-marketing.com or +44 (0)781 651 8018.

Teddy’s Wish raises money for Sands and the Lullaby Trust, the leading SIDS charity, splitting all of its proceeds evenly between the two. The Lullaby Trust provides specialist support for bereaved families, promotes expert advice on safer baby sleep and raises awareness of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS). Further information can be found at www.lullabytrust.org.uk