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Waverley Care is Scotland’s leading HIV and hepatitis C charity. Everything we do is guided by the experiences of the people we work with, from shaping the services we deliver to influencing national policy around sexual health and blood borne viruses.

Getting pregnant and having a baby should be a time filled with excitement and joy, thinking ahead to the new chapter in your life. However, for so many families, the reality is very different, with 15 babies a day dying in the UK, either before, during or shortly after birth. At SANDS Lothians, we are there for those families, whose dreams have been so cruelly shattered. We provide compassionate care for families in the local community with specialist bereavement support, including befriending and counselling. The majority of our team are bereaved parents themselves, so have also walked that journey and can help reassure families so they know that they are not alone. For families, the loss of their precious baby is devastating and isolating, especially when parents return home from the hospital. Before they leave the hospital, families are given our memory bag. In the bag there is a photo album, memory stick, a candle, a notebook, a heart key ring (with a part that stays with the baby) and details about our support. These bags give parents memories to cherish of their precious little one, as well as offering a lifeline with information about how we can help. Each bag costs £22 and we are looking to raise enough funds to buy a further 100 bags to make sure that we can continue to provide this service in hospitals in Edinburgh and the Lothians. As a small, independent charity, we are reliant on kind donations and grants to ensure that we can be there for these families now and in the future. Thank you xx