A WOMAN is running a mile a day – in memory of her unborn daughter, who died in 2009.

This month is Baby Loss Awareness Month and Joanne Crowhurst, from Rayleigh, is planning to run the daily mile to help raise awareness of the impact of baby loss.

The 38-year-old, who is a childminder, lost Grace during pregnancy.

Mrs Crowhurst is raising funds for national baby loss charity Aching Arms. It aims to bring comfort to families following the loss of a baby during pregnancy, birth or shortly after.

She is one of the trustees of the charity, which provides comfort bears to hospitals across the UK for midwives to give to newly-bereaved families.

It also sends bears directly to those who request them. She said: “The impact of pregnancy and baby loss is devastating.

“At Aching Arms we know the heartbreak of losing a baby and I believe it is so important we talk about these issues.

“I wanted to do this because it is a way of doing something positive in memory of Grace.

“Some of the other trustees and volunteers at Aching Arms are also either walking or running a mile a day in memory of their babies.

“We also hope that we might raise funds for Aching Arms at the same time.”

There are now 35 hospitals across the UK offering Aching Arms bears and in the last year more than 800 have been given in hospitals or sent directly to bereaved families.

Aching Arms was formed in 2010 by a group of bereavedmothers who wanted to do something to honour their babies’ memories and reach out to others.

It became a registered charity in 2013.

Joanne is married to Jamie and they have two sons .

Anyone whowould like to donate can visit Joanne’s JustGiving page at www. j u s t g i v i n g . c o m / J o a n n e - Crowhurst-Ne-Budd For more information about Aching Arms, go to www.achingarms.co.uk, or search on Facebook and Twitter