A man ran the Manchester Marathon last weekend as one of 84 marathons in 84 days to raise money for a baby loss charity.
Rob Stones, from Liverpool, ran the Manchester marathon in four hours and 26 minutes with one of his friends.
The 31-year-old is raising money for Honeysuckle Bereavement Service at Liverpool Women’s Hospital after his best friends suffered a baby loss last year.
“It all came about because my best friends lost a baby last year,” said Rob. “They’re like those friends that are more like family.
“I went through that with them, seeing how it changed them emotionally, physically. It was such a horrible, hard time for them.
“But because we’ve run together, they were saying in the last trimester a woman’s body goes through a marathon a day making a baby, the same energy output. So that’s where we were like, oh, that sounds like a bit of a challenge.
“And then it just spitballed into, I’m running a marathon a day.
This was his 77th consecutive day of running a marathon.
“We were running just to enjoy the day,” he added. “It was just a good jog, essentially, through Manchester,” said Rob.
“I know it sounds silly but I was 77 marathons deep, it was my 78th, it was just dead enjoyable.
“The weather was boss, the crowd was amazing.”
As well as raising money to help support the work of the Honeysuckle service, he believes it’s important to raise “awareness around quite a taboo topic.”
“It’s a lot more common than you think, child loss,” said Rob.
“Not many people are open to speaking about it.”
Honeysuckle bereavement service created a football team which is specifically for men who have experienced baby loss.
“It’s all guys that are going through the same thing, or have been going through the same thing,” said Rob.
“They’re there to look after each other, they’re like a big family,
“And then they go off and play footy for an hour or so, and it’s like a really good escape for them.”
Alongside running a marathon everyday for 84 days, Rob still works a full-time job in telecoms.
This means that he sometimes has to split his runs up into smaller chunks to complete the 26.2 miles in each 24-hour period.
He added: “I try my hardest to get up at 6AM to get some in, but when you’re finishing running at 10.30PM the night before, your body just wants to stay in bed to just relax and recover.”
So far, Rob has raised 316% of his original target of £2200.
“The goal would be to get to £8400, I think that would be amazing.
“I think it’s possibly doable.
Rob will finish his Beyond84 fundraiser this Saturday in Crosby.
Kate Davis, head of fundraising at Liverpool Women’s Hospital Charity, said: “After many, many years of fundraising I have never met someone with such drive and determination.
“What Rob is doing for the Honeysuckle Bereavement support team at LWH is truly inspirational.
“The sheer physical and emotional grit needed for this challenge is immense and demonstrates Robs’ courage and conviction.
“We are incredibly grateful to Rob for enabling our bereavement team to continue providing, tailored, sensitive baby bereavement care for our families who have sadly lost babies.”
More information can be found on the Beyond84 JustGiving page here.
You can find more about the HoneySuckle bereavement fund here, including support with baby bereavement.