A group of volunteers are providing maternity wards in Northern Ireland with special teddy bears to help grieving parents following the heartbreaking loss of a baby.
Volunteers Laura Kelly, Ellie Goan and Lisa Harrison have been working with the charity Aching Arms in order to provide support to parents who have gone through the tragic ordeal of losing a baby.
The bears are provided free of charge to parents with them being purchased via donations, often by other parents who are grieving the loss of a loved one and want to help others going through the same difficult time.
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Laura Kelly was the first volunteer for the charity in Northern Ireland and started working with them following the loss of her son Cormac in 2017.
Speaking to Belfast Live, she said: "After the loss of my son Cormac, I was finding it very hard to cope and came across the charity Aching Arms while online and requested one of their comfort bears.
"It arrived a few weeks later and I discovered that it had been donated by another family who had lost their baby Florence, and wanted to do something to help another parent and it really meant the world to me.
"The charity had no volunteers working in Northern Ireland, so I started working with them and helping to provide bears to the Royal Victoria Hospital at first.
"Since then I have been joined by Ellie and Lisa and as of the last few months we are now providing the bears to every health trust in Northern Ireland. Since 2017 we have provided around 450 bears to grieving mums."
Laura said that the comfort bears are designed to be something that parents are able to use when they are in need of a bit of a pick-me-up, as it is something that they are able to hold close to them and cuddle when they are feeling low.
She continued: "While things like memory boxes are extremely important to parents who have lost a baby, I know that mine is one of the most important things in my life, it is not something that you can really hold and cuddle when you need to.
"The comfort bears are something that you can hold close to you and all of the mums that I have spoken with who have received one have told me how much it has helped them and how important they have become for them.
"There is nothing that can take away the pain of losing a baby but I hope that those who receive them will be able to feel some comfort and relief and know that they are not alone."
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