A TYNEDALE husband and wife are running the London Marathon in memory of their stillborn daughter.

On October 3, 2013, Rachael Maitland went into hospital to give birth to her and her husband Billy’s daughter, Rose, when she was 30-weeks pregnant.

Rose had a rare condition called Patau Syndrome.

According to the NHS, Patau’s Syndrome is a serious rare genetic disorder caused by having an additional copy of chromosome 13 in some or all of the body’s cells.

Babies with Patau’s Syndrome grow slowly in the womb and have a low birth weight, along with a number of other serious medical problems, the NHS website says.

Following Rose’s death, Rachael, who lives in Prudhoe, found out about a charity called Antenatal Results and Choices (ARC).

ARC is a charity which helps parents and healthcare professionals through antenatal screening and its consequences.

Rachael said the charity put her in touch with other people who had been through the same thing.

“It helped me out of a very dark place,” she said.

When Rachael fell pregnant again with her daughter Lucy who is now six, a midwife told her she was running the Great North Run.

“I think she was probably just talking about it to distract us from what was going on,” Rachael said.

But she told Billy she was going to do it one day, and after giving birth to Lucy, she signed up to complete it to raise money for charity.

Since then, Rachael and Billy have both done various runs and challenges to raise money for ARC and for the RVI.

“I think we’ve probably raised about £10,000 between us,” Rachael said.

“In a lot of ways, thank God for what we’ve done because I don’t quite know what I would have done otherwise.

“It could have been a very different story. You end up in quite a dark place after that kind of thing happening to you.”

This year’s London Marathon falls on October 3, and so it will be exactly eight years to the day since she went into hospital to give birth to Rose.

Billy had a place through his running club, and Rachael contacted the ARC who offered her a charity place.

Rachael had completed the event three years ago.

She said: “It’s one of those things you say ‘I’ll never do that again’ and as soon as you cross the finish line you’re like ‘how can I do it again’.”

Rachael has set up a Virgin Money Giving fundraising page, with a target of raising £1,700 for ARC.

So far they have raised £1,045.

Rachael has also organised a charity running event for July 24, with members of Stocksfield Striders running club, which Rachael is a member of, and Prudhoe Plodders divided into teams of six and going on a treasure hunt around the local area.

Afterwards, a buffet and a raffle are going to take place at Stocksfield Cricket Club.

Rachael has been asking local businesses to donate prizes for the raffle, and said she has been “overwhelmed” with the donations received.

Prudhoe restaurant Oli and Joe’s also donated £100 cash.

“I was blown away,” Rachael said.

“For a restaurant to do that in these times, it’s amazing really.”

To donate to Rachael’s fundraising page, visit https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/fundraiser-display/showROFundraiserPage?userUrl=RachaelMaitland&pageUrl=8