Mother’s Day Does Not Get Any Easier – And That Is Okay
15 March 2026 Today is Mother's Day in the UK For millions of people, today will mean cards on the breakfast table, bunches of flowers, phone calls and hugs. It will mean being recognised and celebrated. It will mean warmth. For me, and for so many women just like me,...
Today – 28 February 2026 – is Rare Disease Day
Today is #RareDiseaseDay, which is an annual day that has been set up to raise awareness of rare diseases This day is very close to my heart because of course on 29 November 2013 Frankie was born sleeping, and it turned out he had Chromosome 15 Duplication Syndrome, a...
Babyloss Podcast: Raising Awareness of Grief, Loss and the Pain That Never Leaves Bereaved Mothers
On Frankie's 12th birthday it is very fitting that this podcast I recorded recently with the lovely Desirée van Nieuwenhoven should be released In it I talked about how the pain, grief and loss never leaves you with the passage of time, it just gets more manageable. I...
Dear Frankie…On Your 12th Birthday From Your Mummy
My Darling Frankie, Happy 12th Birthday, my beautiful boy. It's Saturday, 29 November 2025, and you would have been twelve years old today. Twelve. When I hold that number in my mind, I can almost see you, on the cusp of becoming a teenager, all gangly limbs and...
Finding My Voice Again: Honouring Frankie As His 12th Birthday Approaches
Twelve years. It's been twelve years since my Frankie entered and left this world on the same day, Friday 29 November 2013, changing me and my life forever. And recently, I had the privilege of being interviewed by Desirée van Nieuwenhoven on her podcast called...
5 Years Later….I’m Back With A Bang
It's been over five years since I last wrote here. Five years of silence on this blog, the blog that means the most to me. Five years since I shared the intimate journey of being an empty armed mother, of navigating grief, of honouring my Frankie’s memory. But the...
Dear Frankie…on your Seventh Birthday xx
Dear Frankie, Today is your 7th heavenly birthday, and I know you are getting well and truly spoilt up there. I’m sure your Great Aunty Maria will have organised a big party for you with lots of jelly, ice cream and cake, your Great Uncle Vincenzo will be playing his...
Take The Red Pill, Take The Blue Pill: The Choices And Decisions We Make
I’m sure that many of you reading this will be familiar with the film “The Matrix” from 1999 starring Keanu Reeves. While in places it was quite confusing, the basic premise of the film was that humans have been enslaved by artificial intelligence machines who have...
Baby Loss Awareness Month – October 2020
October is traditionally seen as Baby Loss Awareness Month, with a particular emphasis around an Awareness Week in the middle of the month with a “Wave of Light” day on October 15. The aim of this is to remember all those who have lost a baby to...
Cleft Lip and Palate Diagnosis Delivery
When my Frankie was diagnosed with a severe cleft lip and palate, this is what happened: My unborn son Francesco “Frankie” Enrico Ventura was diagnosed with a unilateral cleft lip and palate at the Worcestershire Royal Hospital on Wednesday 25th September 2013 when I...
