A COUPLE whose “gorgeous baby boy” Zach was still-born three years ago have raised more than £400 for still-birth charity Sands via a coffee morning at their Medstead home.

The gesture was to say thank you for the help they received at Basingstoke Hospital during “the worst time of their life”.

Amina and Nick Kellie were looking forward to the birth of their baby in May 2012, but a month earlier Amina realised her baby wasn’t moving and an examination revealed that his heart had stopped beating.

In describing the agony of still-birth she describes how she was moved to the Sands suite in the hospital’s maternity unit and two days later “I delivered my gorgeous baby boy Zach”.

“He was 8lb 3oz and was perfect in every way,” said Amina.” What I would have given for him to open his eyes and have heard him cry, but it wasn’t to be.

“I left the hospital two days later with empty aching arms. It was the worse time of my life. Without the amazing support of the staff at the hospital and having the use of the contained suite my already devastating experience could have been worse.

“I could have given birth on the delivery suite where I would have heard babies crying, been told to go home and not have the time I had with my baby.

“Our families were given the space to spend time with us too at the hospital in private.

“Sands made this possible. Not all angel mummies will be given the space and support that I was given.”

And she added: “Sadly, there is little post-natal support after a still-birth. This is where we need too to break the silence.”

As a first step the coffee morning, with friends Zoe McAndrew, Sammi Parratt, Amina Kellie and Becci Barnley, with little helpers Theo Kellie and Charlotte Barn, helping with the organisation, gave the couple the chance to raise funds as a thank you to Sands.

Amina said: “The coffee morning was a fantastic success and as a result over £600 has been raised for the charity with donations still coming in via Zach’s just giving page – justgiving.com/zachkellie.

“We were all truly blown away by the generosity and support of the local community.

“The UK has one of the highest rates of still-birth with 10 babies per day, and three in 10 happening at term (37 weeks).”

“This figure is staggering and has hardly changed in the last 20 years, therefore raising money and celebrating the memory of Zach Kellie is crucial in supporting the amazing work of Sands and to help fund research to put a full stop to still-birth,” she said.