Twickenham family to cycle 120 miles in baby Louie's memory (From This Is Local London)

Twickenham family to cycle 120 miles in baby Louie's memory

9:00am Saturday 18th April 2009

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A Twickenham family are going on a 120-mile bike ride to commemorate the life of their youngest member, who passed away at just eight days old.

James Thatcher and his brothers and friends will cycle the entire length of Hadrian’s wall to raise money for the charity for premature babies, Born too Soon.

“The money raised will hopefully help to save another baby. I wouldn’t want anyone else to have to go through this.”

Emma Lowe

Mr Thatcher’s son Louie was born seven weeks prematurely in November last year. After initially thriving in the neonatal unit at Kingston Hospital, he caught Necrotizing Entroconitis (NEC), an infection that targets the digestive system. Louie was dead within 24 hours.

Emma Lowe, Louie’s mother said: “It was very devastating. We thought he was doing really well - he was feeding, smiling - until he caught the infection. We had to turn off his life support machine.

“The money raised will hopefully help to save another baby. I wouldn’t want anyone else to have to go through this.”

Family and friends have already raised more than £2,000 for Born too Soon.

Ms Lowe, whose previous child was stillborn, said that working to raise money was, “giving us something to keep going for”.

The bike ride will take place over two days on May 2 and 3.

Mr Thatcher will cycle alongside his brothers Sam and Joe, his sister-in-law Sharon Lowe and friends Gary Burvil, Becca Griffin, Steve Gould, Mick Dulcock.

James Thatcher said: “Hopefully it will increase awareness of NEC and also raise more funds for the charity.”

Mr Thatcher and Ms Lowe have designed a memorial website for Louie, louie-thatcher.gonetoosoon.org/memorial, on which Ms Lowe has posted poetry about her son.

To sponsor the bike ride visit justgiving.com/c2c-ride.

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