Ben Moorhouse to head to Blackpool as part of extreme walking challange
9 July 2024
by Visit Blackpool
Bereaved dad ready to take on 110 mile nostop extreme challenge walk in memory of his stillborn daughter
This weekend starting on Saturday July 13th Ben Moorhouse (40) of Halifax will be taking on a 110-mile nonstop extreme challenge in memory of his daughter Kallipateira was who stillborn at 37 weeks of pregnancy in October 2018.
He will walk from Wainhouse Tower in Halifax to Blackpool. From Blackpool he will then walk to the Maternal and Fetal Health Research Centre and Tommy’s rainbow clinic at Saint Mary’s Hospital in Manchester. Ben will walk the 110 miles nonstop and with no sleep day and night to Manchester, finishing the following day. He will be supported by partner Gaynor Thompson in the support vehicle. At the 79-mile stage of Preston Ben will be joined by Professor Alexaner Heazell who is the director of the Tommy's Stillbirth Research Centre in Manchester.
In August Ben will then head to the Greek Island of Rhodes and on August 17th during the height of summer he will take on the islands famous Tsambika Monastery on the East Coast.
The famous Monastery has 300 steps from the bottom to the top and is perched at an altitude of 240 metres. Ben will be taking this on a total of 100 times in one day. Ben has already made history on the Greek island when in August 2021 he became the only person to walk around the full perimeter of the island nonstop – a total of 150 miles in 42 hours.
Ben has set himself a target of £10,000 for both extreme challenges with all funds going direct to Professor Heazell and his team to support research to help save babies’ lives. Ben has so far raised £2143 towards his target.
In October 2018 Bens daughter Kallipateira was stillborn at 38 weeks of pregnancy in Calderdale and the couple then experienced a miscarriage in May 2019 at 9 weeks of pregnancy. Kallipateira’s death was fully preventable.
Ben and Gaynor launched their own charity to help save babies lives through research and support other parents who have experienced the death of a baby.
Following the stillbirth of their daughter and miscarriage they knew if they wanted to have the best chance of another child with a better outcome, they must be cared for by Professor Alexander Heazell of the Tommy’s rainbow clinic and Maternal and Fetal Health Research Centre in Manchester.
On May 23rd, 2020, Ben and partner Gaynor Thompson gave birth to their Rainbow baby boy Apollon in Manchester.
Apollon survived due to the love and specialist care from Professor Heazell and his team. The full pregnancy was kept a secret from family and friends.
To help save babies’ lives nationally in the UK Professor Heazell and his team are now the main beneficiary of The Kallipateira Moorhouse Foundation.
Ben says “I am looking forward to doing Kallipateira proud with my two extreme challenges in 2024. I have had to get through some personal hurdles both physically and mentally to get to where I needed to be. After some bad injuries in 2023 I have had the best training camp in years and am ready to go. The biggest challenge I will always face is raising the money so if anyone can please help me with a donation it would he be fantastic. Every single penny raised goes direct to the cause to help save babies’ lives.
Every day in the UK there are on average nine babies stillborn and many of these deaths could have been prevented. These are beautiful fully developed babies who should be alive. As a grieving dad who each day feels the pain of Kallipateira’s devastating death I must now raise more vital funds for Professor Heazell and his team to support research so that other families nationally don’t have to experience the pain that we do every day. “
I would like to ask the media and public to please support me in my quest to raise as much as possible to help save babies’ lives.
Professor Alexander Heazell, Director of the Tommy's Stillbirth Research Centre said.
“We are delighted that Ben is completing two amazing challenges for our stillbirth research next year. The KM foundation have funded studies that have explored parents needs for support in pregnancy after loss and to better detect problems after reduced fetal movements. We are so grateful for their support to fund stillbirth research that improves care for parents.”
Dignity Funerals are the proud headline sponsor of the extreme challenge walk.
Stuart Cox, Corporate Communications Manager at Dignity, said:
“As a socially responsible business Dignity is delighted to continue our support for the Kallipateira Moorhouse Foundation.
After Ben initially approached us, we could immediately see the value of the work the Foundation does and his inspiring enthusiasm for fundraising. We all wish him the best of luck with his latest challenges.”
Ben can be supported at: www.justgiving.com/page/kmf2024