Stone Rotary Club president Will Tonge will be cycling the 150-mile coast-to-coast route from Whitehaven to Tynemouth on 5th May to raise money for SANDS, the stillborn and neonatal death charity.
Joining local businessman Will on the challenge will be his brother Tim and old school pal Barry Bills and they expect to complete the arduous course in just three days.
The ride is in memory of Will and Emma’s little boy George Joseph, who was stillborn on 5th May 2007. Emma, together with James and Sophie – George’s brother and sister – and a few other friends will be providing the cyclists with much-needed support during the ride.
Will said that until such a tragedy affected his family he had no idea that 17 babies die every day in the UK and 11 of those are stillbirths, and the rate has been unchanged for over 10 years. Those numbers mean that every year 6,500 babies die either in the womb or within a month of birth. That is the equivalent of 16 jumbo jets crashing every year with no survivors!
The causes of the majority of stillbirths are unexplained: the babies are born perfectly formed with no clear reason why they died and many stillbirths occur after so called ‘low risk’ pregnancies.
Will and Emma want to do all that they can to prevent other families going through the same tragedy – and the aim is to raise at least £1,500 for the charity SANDS, who fund research into the causes as well as supporting the bereaved families. To support Will, Tim and Barry on their hilly challenge you can donate online at www.justgiving.co.uk/will-tonge or any member of the Rotary Club of Stone & District will be pleased to see that your donation gets to the correct place.
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