Couple get doctorates for helping bereaved parents

Amy and Ryan Jackson set up the Lily Mae Foundation in 2012 after their daughter was stillborn at 37 weeks

A couple who set up a charity to support bereaved parents after their daughter was stillborn are to receive honorary doctorates.

Amy and Ryan Jackson, from Balsall Common, founded the Lily Mae Foundation in 2012, two years after their daughter was stillborn at full term.

The charity has since supported thousands of grieving families across the West Midlands and Northern Ireland and raised more than £3m to help through support programmes.

Mr and Mrs Jackson will be presented with Honorary Doctorates of Letters from Coventry University on 22 November.

Mrs Jackson, who recently completed a 36-hour gym challenge in aid of the foundation, said they "never expected" to receive the award but to be recognised for their work was "amazing."

The charity has donated more than 25,000 memory boxes to bereaved parents through 14 partner hospitals they support.

The memory boxes allow parents to collect memories, photo frames, teddy bears and other items and store them after a baby loss.

Mr Jackson said the pair started the charity because they didn't feel there was local support available to them at the time they lost their baby daughter Lily Mae in February 2010.

"There were national organisations, but sadly it just felt that in Coventry and Warwickshire there wasn’t the same access to these kinds of services," he said.

“Seeing families benefit from the support we offer is reward in itself, but I’d be lying if I said it’s not nice to be acknowledged for our work, it gives that extra boost to keep doing what we do and it’s incredibly humbling,"