Her neatly folded new clothes were in the drawers of the bedroom which had been made ready for her arrival. But tiny Kallipateira would never be laid in her cot.
Two weeks before she was due in October 2018 her parents, Gaynor Thompson and Ben Moorhouse were told that their daughter had died. But even that heartbreak was to be amplified.
Ben said: "After receiving that news we had to go back to our home for two days with Gaynor carrying a full-term baby that we knew had died. Those two days were beyond heartbreak.
"We felt alienated to the world. But we are a team and we were their for each other. There was a complete lack of support. We were left to our own devices."
After those two days at home Gaynor returned to hospital and gave birth to Kallipateira. "She was on a maternity ward with crying babies and proud parents. As we left the ward with our memory box of our daughter there was a family arriving with congratulations balloons," said Ben.
He added: "There is a not a day that goes by that I don't cry. People say time heals but for Gaynor and I in some ways life is still in 2018 and that will never change."
Yet after the desolation of losing their daughter more trauma was to follow. Gaynor became pregnant again, but at nine weeks had a miscarriage in May 2019. But from these crushing experiences would come "a miracle".
Ben and Gaynor launched their own charity to help save babies lives through research and support other parents who have experienced the death of a baby. Ben said: "I got to meet Professor Alexander Heazell over a brew in Manchester. After the stillbirth of our daughter and the miscarriage we knew that if we were to have the best chance of another child with a better outcome they must be cared for by Professor Heazell."
The Professor is based at the Tommy’s Rainbow Clinic and Research Centre in Manchester at Saint Mary’s Hospital. "He said he would help and through his own homework when looking into Gaynor's previous he was able to tell us that the reason Kallipateira died was because of a rare condition with the placenta and that her death was preventable.
"He also identified that Gaynor was at risk of developing gestational diabetes and would have to be monitored for that," said Ben. Gaynor did become pregnant again. "Alex put her on a cocktail of drugs to keep the placenta strong and she was given a device to check her blood sugars.
"No question was a problem. A big part for Gaynor and I was education, so we were fully on the ball."
At 35 weeks, Gaynor gave birth to Apollon, their son, on May 23 2020 - but only after a rapid taxi ride through empty roads during the first lockdown from their home in Halifax to St Mary's Hospital, Manchester. Ben said: "We had kept the pregnancy secret from family and friends this time. It was not difficult to do during lockdown. We bought our son home and for week just the three of us spent time together, then we told family. I don't know whether his sister was looking over us but he is a real life miracle."
To help save babies lives nationally in the UK Professor Heazell and his team are now the main beneficiary of The Kallipateira Moorhouse Foundation, set up by Gaynor and Ben. In August 2021, Ben along with his support team of Gaynor and Jason Croft successfully walked around the full Greek island of Rhodes – a total of 150 miles nonstop and with no sleep in just 42 hours at the height of summer in extreme heat and humidity.
Ben was seeing double for the final 30 miles but battled through to the finish line in memory of his much-loved daughter and raised £7,000 for Professor Heazell and his team. But on Saturday will eclipse his Greek epic by walking 180 miles nonstop from Tommy’s Research Centre in London at St Thomas’s Hospital to the Tommy’s Rainbow Clinic and Research Centre in Manchester at Saint Mary’s Hospital – a total of 180 miles non-stop and with no sleep.
Ben is aiming to do the trek in 60 hours or less and has set himself a target of £10,000 with all funds going direct to Professor Heazell and his team to support research to help save babies lives. Ben said: “Dads are sadly forgotten about by most of society when it comes to the death of a baby.
"Not a day goes by where I don’t think of my daughter. Everyone grieves differently and I channel my grief and pain by taking on my extreme challenge walks. If I didn’t do what I do for my daughter and to help others in the process It would have been so easy to go down a different path.
"Every step I make is through the love of my daughter Kallipateira. Many stillbirths in the UK are preventable and by supporting research we can help save babies lives. People have done this walk before over a week or more with hotel stops along the way, but I will do this in one go with no sleep along with my support team who it will also be a challenge for.
"I think I will cope with the heatwave across England, it is all in the mind, I will keep hydrated and put on plenty on sunscreen. The toughest part will be sleep deprivation. Going the first night without sleep is a challenge - a second is hell."
Professor Alexander Heazell, Director of the Tommy's Stillbirth Research Centre said: “The team at the Tommy’s Stillbirth Research Centre are so grateful to Ben and Gaynor for their donations to support our work to reduce the number of babies dying and to improve care for parents.
"We are in awe of what Ben puts himself through to raise money, in memory of Kallipateira, so that other babies are born healthy and well. We’ll be looking forward to supporting Ben in July and to welcome him when he arrives at the research Centre.”
Auto Trader, who are the official sponsor for Ben's challenge said; “Auto Trader are really proud to be working with Ben and his team at the Foundation. At Auto Trader, our Family Network are committed to supporting colleagues who experience fertility problems, miscarriage and baby loss and so the work that the Kallipateira Moorhouse Foundation do to raise awareness of stillbirth really resonates.
"We are absolutely thrilled to be supporting Ben on his next challenge and are looking forward to playing our part in helping him to smash that target." Ben can be supported at www.justgiving.com/manchester2022
For support, visit https://www.tommys.org/baby-loss-support/miscarriage-information-and-support
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