News for Wednesday: October 4th, 2000

Duchess tells of her family's anguish over miscarriages(Electronic Telegraph)
By Nigel Bunyan

THE Duchess of York launched a fund-raising appeal for a foetal health centre yesterday by talking about her family's experience of miscarriage and stillbirth.
She recalled how she lost her sister, Sophie, to pre-eclampsia shortly before she was due to be born. Then she read to her audience at the launch of the £1 million Birth of Hope Appeal in Manchester a letter written by her elder sister, Jane Luedecke, describing her four miscarriages.
It said: "I feel very strongly about supporting a charity for research into miscarriage, premature births and stillborn babies. I have three wonderful children but I have also lost four babies at different stages of pregnancy and each time is as hard as ever. Every one is different and each loss is traumatic whatever stage of pregnancy it is at."
Mrs Luedecke, who lives in Sydney, said she nearly died when she lost her fourth baby to a rare disease a fortnight before she was due. "I remember distinctly holding her and being told she would not live that long. I was in hospital for four weeks due to the fact that I had a blood transfusion and nearly went with her.
"There was not a day that went by that I did not ask someone why and how? The trauma of being in a maternity ward with other mothers who had their babies and then having to name her and then bury her is something that will always live with me."
The duchess said she had been lucky to have normal pregnancies. The only complication had been with Eugenie, whose breech position required a caesarean section. "I don't think she really wanted to come out into this world."
The appeal aims to fund a foetal health research centre led by Prof Philip Baker at St Mary's Hospital, Manchester. It is part of Tommy's Campaign for research into miscarriages and stillbirths. Speaking as the appeal's chief patron, the duchess said more funding was needed for research.
"One in five pregnancies end in miscarriage, one in 188 babies are stillborn and more than 100 babies are born too small or too soon every day. Let's go forward and really make a difference in research and find out why all this happens."

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