Stars for Ebben Fundraiser for Singleton Hospital Bereaved Parents Room

Welcome to the Stars for Ebben fundraising page

Updated on 19.04.23

Current total raised (after pin costs) stands at £10,145!!

Plus we still have plenty of pins in stock so will be continuing to sell them going forward! Below you’ll find info on our current fundraising efforts, past and future plans! You will also find information on what the money is going to be spent on going forward.

Why we started Stars for Ebben

If you haven’t read the story of our little boy Ebben, please do take a minute to read it here so you know why we are raising money in his honour.

If you have read it, thank you so much for taking the time to get to know our story, his story, and the inspiration for us starting this fundraiser. Although our story is a sad one, the care we received whilst at Singleton hospital was amazing. So to help us honour our little boy, to give something back to the hospital and to help other bereaved parents we want to raise funds to help buy items needed for the bereaved parents suite at Singleton Hospital where Ebben was born.

We are also hoping that by sharing our story and starting this fundraiser we will be able to raise awareness of still birth and baby loss.

We intend for this to be a long term project going forward so this page will be updated when new plans are put into place and when we reach certain targets.

We do not currently have an open Just Giving page as the last one was for the Swansea 10k sponsorship money, so has now been closed and added to the fund. Should you wish to donate to the fund directly please get in touch via the blog or our social media.

Current Fundraisers

‘Forever Loved’ Pin Badges

I am super excited to say our pin badges have been selling so well since they arrived in September 2019 that I have now sold over 600. We had to place a second order to continue selling and we still have plenty in stock should you wish to purchase one.

Click Here to Order!!

We would love to see our #StarsForEbben hashtag all over social media to help raise awareness of our campaign and draw attention to still birth and baby loss. If you do purchase a pin please share it with the hashtag for us to see, and tag me @twoheartsoneroof so I get a notification and can share it!

Future Plans

Currently none in the pipe line but we are always open to ideas or suggestions! We will be hoping to hold another Stars for Ebben ball in 2025!

Past Fundraisers

Stars for Ebben Ball 2020

This has to have been the biggest thing I’ve ever organised (apart from my wedding) and probably one of the things I am most proud of. The night took place in February 2020 at a local hotel, The Glyn Clydach and was attended by 212 guests. We were entertained by Fonz and The Poet, served delicious ice cream by Tricycle Treats and had photos taken by Props N Pics. The room looked amazing in black, white and silver decorations from Exclusively by Emma Arnold and with Balloons from Balloon Blitz. I think I can definitely say everyone who attended had an amazing evening and we raised an incredible £4175! So I cannot thank everyone enough for this amazing figure and for attending on the night.

Stars for Ebben Ball 2023

Once covid had finally passed I decided to throw another ball at The Glyn Clydach hotel, seeing as the first was such a success and everyone had such an amazing time. This time we had 120 guests, The Trilogy and Rebecca Devereux were amazing entertainment, Exclusively by Emma Arnold and On.The.Balloon decorated the room for us, and Starlit Events provided a fun Selfie stick photo booth. We had a truly awesome night and we raised an amazing £2,520

Stars For Ebben Charity Raffle 2019

The charity raffle has now finished! Thank you all for purchasing tickets and for your support. Ticket sales raised an impressive £960. Winners can all be found on the raffle prize page, all have been contacted. Huge thank you to all the shops who participated and sponsored a prize!

Admiral Swansea 10k 2019

Our friend Kathryn and Jons step sister Natalie both ran and completed the Swansea 10k in September 2019. They ran in honour of Ebben and helped raise sponsorship money for the Stars for Ebben fund. The final amount raised was £350! Thank you to all those who sponsored them and donated. And a huge huge thank you to the girls for running it and taking Ebben with them!

Stars for Ebben Kids Party

We held a kids party in The Play Quarter which was enjoyed by 30 lovely littles and their parents. The kids were able to have great fun on the play equipment, enjoy some party food and were entertained and had photos taken with the beautiful princesses from Happily Every After and I am Captain America. We raised a awesome £250 and a lovely time was had by all!

Forever Loved Jumpers by The Tired Mama Collection

The lovely ladies over at The Tired Mama Collection designed us this limited edition Forever Loved Jumper for Baby Loss Awareness Month 2019. £20 for every Jumper sold was donated to our fund and they raised an awesome £600.

Forever Loved Decorations

The lovely Hannah at Crafty Little Hive made us these beautiful Forever Loved Decorations to sell at the ball and to decorate our Charity Christmas Tree in Margam Park last Christmas. She then decided to sell them during Baby Loss Awareness month to help raise extra funds for Stars For Ebben. Total Raised was £50

What The Money Is Being Used For

I’ll be honest and say when I first started this crazy idea of #StarsForEbben and wanting to fundraise in Ebben’s name I didn’t have a clue what the money would be spent on. I simply needed something positive and productive to do, partly to keep myself occupied but also partly so this sad story in our lives had a positive impact somewhere. I needed some good to come out of everything we have been through, and I really wanted to give something back to the hospital to say thank you for the great care we were lucky enough to receive during the hardest time of our life. And to help other parents in our situation, even if it simply meant making the space a little more comfortable for them, or adding something important to the memory boxes for them. Then I met Christie-Ann my bereavement midwife, and more recently the other amazing bereaved parents at our new baby loss support group and we now have a whole list of things our funds are going to be spent on. Plus I really hope going forward to register Stars for Ebben as an official charity and for us to provide long term financial support to the room and the bereaved parents community local to us.

The Newly Refurbished Bereaved Parents Room in Singleton Hospital

Although Jon and myself didn’t use the new room, (it was finished after our hospital stay), it is now a safe space for bereaved parents that has been made more private from the actual labour ward. And there is also a room on another ward for bereaved parents to use and stay in after they have delivered their little ones should they wish to stay longer or should thee labour room be needed for another delivery.

As this is a new room it currently only contains the basic labour room items that the hospital provides, but this room needs to be so much more than an average labour room. It needs to be somewhere parents are able to spend precious time with their little ones, somewhere that doesn’t scream hospital (which is hard considering there has to be certain items for medical purposes and hygiene regulations) somewhere comfortable and providing items they may wish to have to make those memories they will never get to make with their babies outside of the hospital walls.

So with that in mind we are planning to purchase the following items

A storage unit for donated blankets and clothing
A unit to house tea and coffee making items (and supplies)
Forever Loved mugs (already purchased)
A baby bath and toiletries (Some items have kindly been donated by some of the brands I have worked with on this blog in the past). Your babies first bath is a big thing usually, so for many it’s an important memory to make. Plus for me personally it has added to my overall sensory experience and memory of my son. Although I didn’t actually bath him myself in the end, Rebecca (one of my midwives) washed his hair in Johnson bedtime baby bath and the smell of that is now something that is so so precious to me.
Bedtime Books so parents are able to read to their little ones (already purchased)
Emergency toiletry kits for parents
A radio
2 fans as the room can become warm in summer
2 Chairs for visitors

A Camera and Training for Midwives

Honestly it should come as no surprise to anyone that obviously our photos of Ebben are the most precious thing we now own. They are one of very few physical things we can hold on to to remember him going forward. They prove he existed and allow us to remember him in every detail. And I know not every parent is lucky enough to have that of their little ones. Yes, we all have camera phones, but lets be honest the quality isn’t always the best, and believe me in those moments you are holding you silent baby often your brain is in such a fog you are unable to even contemplate taking photos or think about what you want to remember at all.

So we want to make this as easy and stress free a process as possible for parents by providing not only a good quality easy to use camera, but also annual training for any of the midwives who wish to take it. They will be able to take precious photos throughout the parents stay should they want them. Plus memory cards that the parents can take with them and can be safely stored away and kept in their memory boxes.

There is a local branch of Remember My Baby that does amazing work providing photographs for bereaved parents and can be contacted by the midwives, but this option isn’t for everyone. For me personally I couldn’t have coped with another stranger inside my safe space at that point in time. I wanted to close myself off from everyone else, just me, Jon and Ebben, and one of the midwives assigned to us. I only saw 3 midwives and 1 student nurse over the course of our time in hospital after Ebben was born, and having that continuity of care and less new people to deal with helped me. But obviously this is a personal opinion.

Ongoing Support for the Room and Bereaved Parents Support Group

Lastly I am hoping that we can make this an ongoing charity project and be able to support the room and the bereavement midwife with any items they need in the future, even down to the basics of replenishing the tea, coffee and emergency toiletry kits. Replacing items when needed and even covering the cost of extra training should staff or members of the baby loss support group require it.