Laura shares how she turned her pain into purpose, and how a stranger connected by grief helped her find hope again.
Some moments divide your life into a “before” and an “after.” Losing our daughter, Asha, in June 2024 was mine.
Asha had Turner’s Syndrome. Her prognosis was poor due to other complications and we were told she would not survive to term. We faced a TFMR (termination for medical reasons) - a decision that still feels impossible to put into words.
In the days that followed, the world became painfully quiet. We were left to grieve in silence, without support and all I wanted was to speak to someone who truly understood. Someone who got the pain, guilt and heartache. Someone who had stood where I was standing and could meet me there without flinching.
That search led me to the charity Branch Baby Loss Network and their WhatsApp community with 50 groups designed to help people who’ve lost a baby during pregnancy and beyond find each other through shared experiences and location, to help break the isolation. Branch was created by Jess Waugh after she lost her son, Louis, late in pregnancy. Her aim was simple: to make sure no one had to go through baby loss alone.
Branch’s TFMR group quickly became my lifeline. It was the first place my grief didn’t feel “too much,” where every emotion - guilt, love, anger, anxiety, fear - was recognised instead of pushed aside. Where I could talk about Asha without fear of making others uncomfortable. Those conversations helped me survive the earliest, heaviest days - as well as what was still to come…
As I was so ready to be a mum, we continued to try for a baby after losing Asha and I fell pregnant quite quickly. Unfortunately I had an early miscarriage at six weeks and my grief doubled, going immediately to anger at how unfair it was that we had to go through two different types of losses so close together.
Giving back to the community that held me felt instinctive. As a project manager, I’m happiest behind the scenes with checklists and timelines, making sure things run smoothly. Volunteering with Branch - and later stepping into the role of Head of Project Management - gave me a sense of purpose at a time when everything else felt shattered. Knowing I was helping other bereaved parents helped me turn my pain into purpose.
As a new charity, one of the first things I helped organise was Branch’s first national fundraiser: the Branch Baby Loss Relay. Over the course of a year since the relay began, a symbolic branch has travelled across the UK from one bereaved family to another. Parents have tied ribbons onto it in memory of their babies, meeting along the way to share, grieve and honour their little ones together - from the top of Scotland to the bottom of Cornwall. It’s been one of the most meaningful projects of my life.
While the relay has built connection and awareness right across the country, it has also created something I never expected: true friendship.
That’s how I met Ellie.
We first crossed paths in Branch’s WhatsApp groups, going through similar experiences at almost the exact same time. We first chatted in the TFMR group, then found ourselves together again in the “trying to conceive after loss” and “pregnancy after loss” groups. We were also part of the same local chat. Our names kept appearing next to each other - and when we were arranging a relay meet-up, we realised we lived only ten minutes apart!
We met at a local park, and I vividly remember how easy it felt to talk to her. It’s rare to find someone whose journey mirrors yours so closely: same timelines, same decisions, same heartbreak - even the same doctor and both our first pregnancies.
I was newly pregnant again but keeping it quiet. A few days later, I joined the Pregnancy After Loss group… and saw her name there too! I messaged her immediately. Our due dates were just six days apart.
From then on, we met often - coffee, long chats, sharing the fears and hopes that come with pregnancy after loss. Ellie came to my baby shower too, something I never imagined feeling able to plan. Having her there, understanding every complicated emotion beneath the celebration, meant absolutely everything.
We began as strangers, brought together by our grief. Now, we’ve welcomed our rainbow babies into the world, side by side. And even in this new joy, our daughters, Asha and Thea, are still with us. We speak their names, hold their memories close, and feel them gently watching over their little siblings. We both named our rainbow babies to honour their sisters too: Ella Asha, and Xander Theodore.
Baby loss, and the grief that follows, can be unbearably isolating - but connection changes everything. The right support and community can turn silence into understanding, and pain into something you don’t have to carry alone.
Branch gave me that community.
It gave me resilience.
It gave me Ellie.
And I’m honoured to help it grow so more parents can find the same support, comfort, and hope as I did.
If you’re looking for community and support following babyloss, you can join Branch’s Instagram here and join Branch’s WhatsApp community here.
If you’d like to help support bereaved parents, you can donate to Branch’s relay fundraiser here.
