An Enniskillen man is set to take on the biggest challenge of his life in order to raise money for a stillborn charity after the passing of his son.
Eddie Roofe has set himself a fundraising challenge called ‘Peaks for Peter’ in aid of Sands NI after he and his wife Emma lost their first son in September 2019.
Speaking to MyFermanagh, Eddie said: “My wife had quite a normal pregnancy, everything had kind of gone as expected - she was deemed very low risk and right up to the very end it had gone very well.
“It was a huge huge shock and after that happened, Sands really got us through some really dark times and with the way lockdown has been this is the first chance we felt we had the ability to raise some money for them.”
Sands NI (Stillbirth and Neonatal Death Support) is a charity that supports anyone affected by the death of a baby by working to improve the care bereaved parents receive, and promoting research and working closely with many different organisations to reduce the loss of babies lives.
“They do a lot of face-to-face counselling and group sessions so you can talk to other parents through the difficulties you are having at the time.
“They do a lot of things in that sense to help people process their feelings - as recently as 20 years ago or so, a lot of this would be brushed under the carpet and it’s only really now that people feel comfortable talking about it and acknowledging it.
“What we found after losing wee Peter was that there are people who we had known for many years came forward and told us that they lost a child in similar circumstances but it was just never mentioned,” Eddie explained.
Eddie’s ‘Peaks for Peter’ fundraiser will see him climb the highest peak in every county in Ireland within eight days which is a combined total of 160km of climbs, with an elevation of over 10000 metres.
He continued: “We will be starting in Monaghan and working our way up around the north coast and coming back around and finishing on Cuilcaigh on August 1.”
Eddie and Emma smashed their initial fundraising goal of £1000 by raising just under £3,500 in a few short days with the money going to help couples like them who suffer the tragedy of losing a child.
“To receive the support we have already in such a short space of time is staggering -I posted it on Facebook and within 48 hours we had doubled our goal.
“People from all walks of life have donated and it’s really been amazing to see the support for the charity and I think it underlines just quite how many people are affected by this in their life or someone they know,” he added.
“I am really humbled by it and it’s incredible to see the support come through already.”
To follow Eddie’s ‘Peaks for Peter’ journey and donate to his Sands NI fundraiser, click here.
