The father of a Mearns baby who died shortly after birth has smashed a fundraising target to mark the fifth year since the tragedy.
Nevaeh Stewart died soon after she was born at Montrose Royal Infirmary’s community midwifery unit (CMU) on July 8 2012, despite the efforts of specialists who arrived to save her.
Her parents Gary and Kimberly Stewart, from Auchenblae, have spent the past five years raising money in her name, pausing last year to take part in an emotionally draining fatal accident inquiry at Forfar Sheriff Court.
Mr Stewart, 32, walked 187 miles from east coast to west in 10 days, to mark the day the couple “got to say hello” to their little girl.
Having set a £500 target for the trek, Mr Stewart has said he was “delighted” to reach almost £2,000.
“The generosity of everyone has been unbelievable and that is nothing to do with me, that is down to the generosity of the people who have donated.
“When I set the initial target of £500 I thought it was quite ambitious, so to have smashed that is unbelievable.
“Reading messages of support from people definitely gave me a boost.
“I genuinely couldn’t have done it without the support and encouragement of my family, as well as everyone who was following my blog online.”
To date, almost £19,000 has been raised by the family for the stillbirth and neonatal charity SANDS, which supports bereaved parents and funds research to prevent neonatal deaths.
Carolyn Bray, fundraising and events manager at Sands said: “We’d like to say a heartfelt thank you to Gary for taking on such a mammoth walking challenge for us in memory of his baby daughter, Nevaeh.
“We are really grateful to Gary and his wife for choosing to support Sands and can’t thank them enough for the enormous contribution they have made to the charity.”
Visit https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/garystewart7 or https://www.justgiving.com/remember/41986/Nevaeh%20Delilah%20Navarro-Stewart to find out more about the Stewarts and their fundraising.
