Durrington family's Mile in Memory

FOR a parent who has lost a baby to cot death, one of the hardest things to come to terms with is not knowing exactly why their child died.

Jo Crouch's daughter Holly-Ann died when she was just 15 weeks old.

Jo went to sleep with her baby in her bed and when she woke up, Holly-Ann had died.

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"For years, I blamed myself," said Jo, of Cheviot Road, Durrington.

"No-one knows what causes sudden infant death. There's a lot of research into it but it costs a lot of money and there simply isn't enough funding.

"I have come to terms with the fact I will probably never know what caused Holly-Ann's death but I will always wonder."

Now, 12 years after her daughter's death, Jo has organised a sponsored walk in memory of Holly-Ann and to raise money for the Foundation for the Study of Infant Deaths (FSID), which helped her when her baby died.

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The Mile in Memory walk will go from the Lido to George V Avenue and back on May 22, from noon to 3pm.

More than 50 people are expected to attend, including many "angel mums", as Jo calls them.

She said: "An angel mum is someone who has lost a child like me.

"Doing something together like this is comforting because you don't feel so alone."

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Jo, 34, who now has five other children and a step-son, also plans to become a helpline assistant for FSID and has arranged a charity skydive in September.

For more information, request to join the Facebook Mile in Memory event page or join the walk on the day.

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