Halifax father takes on charity challenges in daughter’s memory

A man from West Yorkshire is starting the first of two gruelling challenges to raise funds for charity in memory of his stillborn daughter.

Ben Moorhouse and partner Gaynor Thompson’s daughter, Kallipateira, was stillborn at 37 weeks in 2018, with the pair later setting up a foundation to fund stillbirth research.

Mr Moorhouse, 42, from Halifax, aims to walk 120 miles (193km) from Gateshead to Manchester “with no sleep”, on Saturday. He then intends to make 50 ascents of a Greek mountain in Rhodes on 20 July.

He has raised more than £10,000 ahead of the challenge, with money going to Tommy’s Rainbow Clinic in Manchester where their son Apollon was born.

About one in every 250 birth results in a stillbirth, which is defined as when a baby is born dead after 24 weeks of pregnancy, according to the NHS.

“It’s an issue people don’t want to talk about outside Baby Loss Awareness Week,” he said.

“The challenges are also to say thank you for our son, our rainbow baby, Apollon.”

Since Kallipateira’s death, Mr Moorhouse, who works for a Halifax housing association, said he had “dedicated his life to helping save babies’ lives and supporting other grieving families”.

The walk will start from Gateshead’s Angel of the North and finish at Tommy’s Rainbow Clinic and Maternal and Foetal Health Research Centre in Manchester.

He will then fly to Greece for the second part of the challenge six days later to repeatedly climb the “steep mountain road” to the Monastery of Prophet Elias in Faliraki.

Mr Moorhouse said the inevitable “pain and tiredness are all for a good reason”.

“This year has brought mountains I’ve had to climb emotionally and physically,” he said.

“There’s no pain greater than holding your dead baby in your arms, but every step I take will honour Kallipateira and help save other babies across the UK.”

The double challenge is Mr Moorhouse’s latest fundraising goal, with previous feats including a 206 mile (331km) walk.

“Ben’s unwavering commitment is extraordinary,” said Prof Alexander Heazell, clinical director of Tommy’s Stillbirth Research Centre.

“These challenges will fund new projects that could save lives.”

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