Marina Fogle becomes Patron of MAMA Academy

Press Release

Pregnancy charity MAMA Academy is delighted to announce that they are welcoming Marina Fogle as their first Patron of the charity, to both support and champion their work to reduce stillbirth in the UK. Marina was keen to become involved with MAMA Academy following her personal experience of baby loss, when she suffered a placental abruption in August 2014 while 33 weeks pregnant with her third child. Baby Willem tragically did not survive, and Marina came close to losing her own life due to suffering a haemorrhage. Marina and her TV presenter husband Ben have openly spoken about their ordeal since it happened to help raise awareness of baby loss.

MAMA founder and chairman Heidi Eldridge, whose first son Aidan was also sadly stillborn in 2009, is thrilled that the charity has joined forces with a high profile Patron who understands what they are trying to achieve. She said, “Having Marina as our Patron means the world to us as she truly appreciates our mission to reduce baby loss. Whilst what happened to Marina and her family is an absolute tragedy, her determination to make a difference perfectly aligns with the MAMA philosophy of enabling more women to have positive pregnancies”.

Marina Fogle said: “I am honoured to have been asked to be a patron for MAMA Academy. Losing a baby is every mother’s worst nightmare but unfortunately the UK has one of the highest stillbirth rates of any developed country. Professionals agree that up to a third of these stillbirths may be preventable. MAMA Academy’s ambitious plan has already been attributed with lowering the stillbirth rate in one UK hospital, but if I can help in their mission to distribute wallets nationwide and if we can prevent even one stillbirth, then it makes the senselessness of my personal loss just a little bit more understandable.”

MAMA Academy is currently running a large-scale pilot of their Wellbeing Wallets, which expectant mums use to carry their antenatal notes but also provide a means of conveying important pregnancy health messages. Funding received from NHS England earlier this year is providing 75,000 pregnant women with a Wellbeing Wallet, which empowers mums with safer pregnancy information to potentially save babies’ lives. More funding is needed, however, to enable more trusts to be supplied with the wallets, which have shown promising results in the maternity units already using them.

Heidi said, “We hope that the expertise and influence that Marina brings will help to raise the profile of our small but growing charity, and enable us to expand our projects in future to benefit even more mums and babies, and ultimately significantly reduce stillbirth rates across the country. We’re extremely grateful for her support”.

For any PR enquiries please contact Jenny Hicken, MAMA Academy General Manager, via jenny@mamaacademy.org.uk