A COVENTRY mum whose son was stillborn at almost full term is holding her second charity Gala dinner in his memory.
Sharon Luca-Chatha established The Luca Foundation after she lost her son Luca in June 2012.
Last year’s inaugural charity gala dinner raised £6,000 for the Foundation.
This year’s follow-up will be held at Birmingham’s Park Regis Hotel on September 30 and will include an appearance from award-winning actress and producer Kayleigh-Paige Rees as well as a raffle.
Through the foundation, Sharon aims to fund enough cuddle cots to service every maternity unit in the UK.
The charity also aims to raise funds to help reduce infant mortality and support bereaved parents.
CuddleCots act like a refrigerator to keep a body cold, meaning parents can have up to a week with their baby and, if they wish to, even take them home with that equipment.
It costs £1,750 to buy a CuddleCot and between £100-£750 to repair.
Sharon said: “A parent’s worst nightmare is to lose their child. We were beyond devastated, our world had fallen apart.
“From the moment Luca died on the Monday inside my womb, to the Thursday when I gave birth to him, everything was in a daze.
“We were not ready for the next blow – the limited time we had with him, knowing we would then never see him again.
“After holding onto Luca as long as we could – just a few hours – we had to hand him over to be taken to the mortuary.
“This caused us such trauma- we just cried uncontrollably.”
Sharon, who has since been diagnosed with PTSD, has also gone on to write two books which deal with child loss.
She added: “The growth of the Luca Foundation has completely exceeded my expectations.
“I’m very proud of that and proud of the fact that, despite getting more than 10 repair requests every month, we’ve been able to fulfil all of them so far.”
Visit https://thelucafoundation.org.uk/ for more information about the Gala dinner.
