Beautiful Bumble is inspiration for charity challenge

Sands, the stillbirth and neonatal death charity, has supported Paul Black and his fiancee Mandy Bryan-Harris in the five months since they lost their daughter Bumble Bee.

Miss Bryan-Harris, from Leamington, was 41 weeks into her pregnancy when a routine check-up revealed her baby’s heart had stopped beating.

The couple, who live in Stretton-on-Dunsmore, dashed to Warwick Hospital where a scan confirmed their daughter had died.

Mr Black said: “Our lives stopped for a while as we tried to understand why a seemingly healthy baby that was overdue could suddenly be taken from us.”

The couple have described their heartache at having to explained to their three-year-old son Max why his sister, whom he had affectionately named, would not be coming home.

It was during their most difficult time that the family were helped by the Coventry and Warwickshire Sands group.

Mr Black said: “Sands has provided constant support and has enabled us to chat to other parents who have also lost babies.

“We are sadly unable to change the outcome for our beautiful daughter, but the reality of this situation is that a number of these deaths could be prevented.

“We were astonished that in the UK 17 babies are stillborn or die shortly after birth every single day.

“This is a shocking statistic which despite medical advances and improved diagnostic procedures does not show any sign of decreasing.”

To “keep Bumble Bee’s spirit alive” Mr Black and six friends will cycle 500 kilometres from Giant’s Causeway in Northern Ireland to Cork in the south from May 23.

The money Team Bumble raises will fund vital research and support.