A couple of weekends ago, I baked a birthday cake.  Not for my 13 & 10 year old kids, but for my first daughter, Tricia, who was tragically born sleeping in 2012 after a 35-week pregnancy.

Each July our family celebrates her birthday with a cake, and each December we choose a new Christmas tree decoration for her.  These small traditions are a positive way for us to honour Tricia’s memory, yet her devastating loss reminds us regularly of what is most important in life.

Whilst we have managed to move forward with positivity, it frustrates me that our story is far from unique.  14 years later, the rate of stillbirth in Australia remains unchanged, with 6 babies stillborn each and every day.  That is well over 2,000 babies lost each year, and more than 30,000 stillborn babies in the 14 years since Tricia touched our lives forever. Imagine how much uproar there would be if the national road rate was this high.

Just over a year after Tricia was born, I ran the City2Surf to raise funds for the Stillbirth Foundation Australia.  I was much younger and fitter then, but after dragging myself up heartbreak hill and down to Bondi, I swore I would never do it again.

This year feels an appropriate time to break that promise to myself though – the 14km course is 1km for every year that Tricia has missed out on.  And of course, I am trying to raise funds for stillbirth research, in the hope of driving that 6-a-day statistic down at last.

To read more or to support my fundraising efforts, click here to visit my fundraising page.

Heartfelt words shared by Dan, father to Tricia.