A mum who has suffered seven miscarriages over the last two years was "blown away" after the balloon tribute she sent off for her lost baby was found in a field 75 miles away.
Kay Green, from Surrey, received a Facebook message from a man who told her that he had found the confetti balloon in Morton, Billericay.
Speaking to Essex Live, the 24-year-old said: "It was just an honour. It was an honour to me, my family and my baby. It just felt like someone actually cared for us, someone had taken time out of their day to do something so magical for us.
“It was so heartwarming and it just filled me with every good emotion in the world. I just felt amazing," Mrs Green said.
Ricky Harper, 58, found the blue and pink confetti-filled balloon on an overcast morning (September 11) with his friend while they were metal detecting in the field.
He said he had a lump in his throat and the "emotional" message brought a tear to his eye.
The balloon had 'Baby Green imprinted', a scan picture of the baby encase in the balloon and an attached note from Kay instructing the person who finds it to contact her.
After debating for an hour, carrying and deciding what to do with the emotional discovery, Ricky told his wife, Julie Watson, to contact Kay.
He then decided to bury it at a big oak tree in the field and say a prayer for the baby.
He said: "It was very hard, even now thinking about it chokes you up a bit. It is bloody heartbreaking. Felt quite choked up, it was very emotional.
"I just pray for the baby, pray for the family, that gives them some sort of peace and hopefully, one day, they will get the next baby they need.
"I did not want it to be put in the bin and just forgotten. It's one of the things I won't forget. It will stay with me."
Kay received devastating news that she may never naturally have children and might need IVF at the age of 21 after dealing with endometriosis since she was 16.
The young mother said it was a shock for her and her husband Jack and they decided to try IVF.
However, she unexpectedly found out that she was 17 weeks pregnant just before her 22nd birthday when she needed to do a pregnancy test before doctors could put her on IBS medication.
Although she said it was a rough pregnancy, Kay welcomed her son in July 2019 saying he was a little miracle child.
But her endometriosis worsened after birth and she was then diagnosed with adenomyosis.
Adenomyosis is a condition that causes tissues lining the uterus to grow into the muscular wall of the uterus.
Kay received more heartbreaking news when she was 23 after doctors told her she might need a hysterectomy within the next year or two because of the extent of her endometriosis condition.
Even though it made her and her husband more determined to have another baby, she said she was so scared that she was not going to be able to give him what they both wanted.
Kay added: "It's like your world just crumbles and you start over analysing everything.
"I remember sitting there and crying to my husband, saying to him ‘are you gonna leave me 'cause I can't give you more children’.
“It is still a conversation I have with him today, I've always said to him if you're not up for this I fully understand.”
Kay suffered her first miscarriage in November 2019 when she was five weeks pregnant, which was classed as a chemical pregnancy.
After she suffered her third loss in June 2020, doctors at St.Heliers Hospital, Surrey, decided to investigate the cause of the miscarriages, which revealed that she had high levels of natural killer cells, a thyroid problem and lupus sticky blood.
She said: "Being told that, it was devastating because, I know I'm not the only woman who does it, but I think when you have a miscarriage you always blame yourself.
"Then hearing from the doctors ‘oh, it's your body, your body fighting it off. That was, to me, like it's your fault again, so that was heartbreaking.”
Kay then became pregnant again and had it confirmed at an early five-week scan but was told to come back in a few weeks because of her pre-existing condition.
She said: “It's an undeniable feeling of love. There are times where I've gone to scan and it's just this little sac that's empty because it's not grown yet and you think ‘oh I love it already, and I will sit there and I'll rub my belly.
"So that's why the loss is hard because you're already connected.”
Although the baby grew, Kay learnt that she lost the baby at seven weeks in December 2020.
Kay said this miscarriage was hard mentally, physically and emotionally as she had to go through it alone because of COVID restrictions, while pleading with nurses to let her husband in.
She said: “I just felt very isolated. Everyone wearing masks so you can't see their emotions and you can't see their facial expressions
“You just feel distanced from everyone you're not allowed to sit near people, and then it was so lonely. All I can say. it was just so lonely to go through it.”
After doing a Manual Vacuum Aspiration (MVA) at the end of that December, doctors said to Kay they were shocked she had been able to get pregnant in the first place after they found her left ovary was stuck to her bowel and the bowel was stuck to her pelvic wall.
After six miscarriages in a row, Kay found out she was three weeks pregnant in early 2021 she heard the baby's heartbeat.
But she suddenly started bleeding heavily 8 weeks into the pregnancy and later lost the baby.
She added: "Some people will say oh they get easier. They don't. They never get easier because the losses mount up. You just get more and more upset each time.”
This most recent loss made Kay want to do something to remember this baby and so she decided to let balloons off to pay tribute.
After searching endlessly for the fitting balloon for the occasion, her sister managed to find one and delivered it to her.
The balloon had a note on it and she released it with friends and family.
Four days later, she received that "touching" message from Julie in Billericay and rang her loved ones crying to them about what happened.
"I said [to them] I'm so glad someone with such a caring and loving soul found my balloon for our baby.
“Some people could have just walked past it. I don't know how long it was there, someone could have walked past it and thought nothing of it.
“But this person has taken the time out of their day to do something and chose to do this for my family. It was just so sentimental and touching. Honestly, it was just amazing”
Kay admitted she would cry, cuddle and thank Ricky if she saw him face to face.
She plans to visit where the balloon is buried with her husband and son on the date she was due to give birth.
She said: “I've just been so blown away by it, but I think as well I'd be upset that I couldn't go there all the time because it is so far away, I want to go weekly and put flowers down, but I can't do that journey all the time."
But Kay thinks miscarriages are a taboo subject that no one wants to talk about and so keep it to themselves.
She has recently sought counselling as she felt she never had the time to process and grieve.
She has said if anyone is going through a miscarriage they should talk about it.
She said: "Don't hide away from it. If that's what you want to do, then OK, but talk to someone. Have your support network tell your friends so they know that they can help you, and you've got that support.
“Don't let it be a taboo subject, it should not be a taboo.”
