This time 1 year ago, we became parents to an amazing little girl. She is no longer with us, but her memory lives on - even the smallest feet can leave a footprint in this world. In the year since she was born, she has inspired people to do great things:
· Over £20,000 was raised for First Touch after she passed away, which allowed a new state of the art incubator to be bought for the unit which was Chloe's home
· Mark Long and Iain Reynard in South Africa planted a Yellowwood tree in her honour, which continues to grow and prosper
· Lorna and I hiked mountains in Africa, shared her story at her memorial celebrations and in the wider press (http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/bereaved-family-of-premature-baby-fundraise-for-bliss_uk_5979a996e4b02a8434b3f150) and have run marathons and rode London with Kate, Oli, Lav, Jo and Ali in her name to help raise funds and awareness for Bliss
· Friends have been inspired…Andrew and Claire Cook ran the London Marathon, Fran Bayly ran a hilly 10k, James Hiett ran an ultra-marathon across the hills of Wales and Andrew Prout will tackle the Great North Run next weekend - thank you all!
· The amazing Kathy Carmichael, Hugh Carmichael, Steve Wilshaw and Christine Johnson put their life and soul into the Chloe Cycling Challenge, cycling well over 1500km across the mountains of France using stats from her life to raise funds for Bliss and making the press for their achievements www.burtonmail.co.uk/egginton-grandparents-kee…/…/story.html
· The current fundraising stands at around £38,000 across First Touch and Bliss which will make a huge difference to the lives of others…thank you all for your amazing contributions!
· Lorna has worked with Bliss on special projects to help improve the lives of other premature babies and I recently became a trustee of the charity to help Chloe's legacy live long into the future
· And finally, she was a precious part of our wedding celebrations, her ashes contained in our rings and blessed by all our closest friends and family
What a clever little girl, we couldn’t be more proud. Happy 1st Birthday Chloe Filipa Grace Calder, we love you dearly and we always will xxx #chloefilipagracecalder www.chloe.muchloved.com