The parents of a three-year-old Worcester girl who died suddenly in the summer are fundraising to found a charity in her name.
Barri and Naomi Graham want to support other parents who’ve lost toddlers following the death of their daughter Stevie in June.
Little Stevie had seemed fit and well just hours before she died and had even been to nursery, but became increasingly unwell as the day went on and died later that night.
Doctors have since found she had an internal herniated bowel, although the family is still awaiting a coroner’s report to determine the cause of death.
Barri and Naomi have since left presents in local parks and organised a litter pick to celebrate Stevie’s life. With the help of 20 others, they are now planning to virtually travel the globe in 2022 by walking, running, cycling and swimming the equivalent of the earth’s circumference.
“The fundraising from this event will be used to found our charity: Stevie Stones, which is to be established to provide emotional and practical support to bereaved parents and loved ones who find themselves in the unfortunate position that we were in when Stevie left us in June,” said Barri.
“Each participant will be responsible for travelling 5.5km every single day. In turn, each team of five will therefore cover a little over 10,000km in a year and all four teams combined will bring us to 40,072km, which is the earth’s circumference.”
The team is spread all over the UK but includes Worcestershire locals Deb Grant, Darren Greenwood and Alison Smith. There are also plans to link up virtually with friends and relatives in the USA, Australia, Sudan and Iraq.
“Myself and Naomi are avid gym-goers and attend David Lloyd at Sixways so we’re already as prepared as we can be,” said Barri. “The remainder of the team have been following their own programmes since putting this idea together.
“We’ve already started to do the charity work required,” he added. “We’ve spoken with other parents in our position. We’d like to offer more though and get our message out there, including embedding ourselves at hospitals to make sure we are there when needed.”
To support Barri and Naomi’s efforts and help them raise funds to start their charity, visit https://www.gofundme.com/f/stevie-steps-launching-her-charity
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