Small businesses supporting The EPT

14 Sep 2021 | By Jill

Hear from some of our small business owners

We asked some of our supporters why they decided to fundraise through their small businesses. Please be aware that some of these accounts include references to subsequent pregnancies/children.

If you run a small business and are inspired to support us, we’d love to join you on your journey. If you’d like to start supporting us, simply sign up and pledge your donation here.

Cilla

I first came up with the idea of setting up my boutique when I was off work on my maternity leave. I had recently resigned from a high pressure job which was making my mental and overall health suffer. I had no clue what to do after my maternity leave ended as I had only ever really known the Financial Services Industry. It was only just after I gave birth to my daughter Rosie that the idea popped into my head.

Being a first time mum, I was amazed at the amount of clothes I was getting through in such a short space of time. I hadn’t really come across many second hand clothing sites and I really wish I had.. I must have spent so much money on outfits for her, only for them to have been worn a few times before being outgrown.

It seemed such a waste not just in monetary terms but also in the environmental sense too. I started to sell a few of her items on market place and after a while I realised it would be great to try and start my own business in the second hand clothing market.

The other reason (which is the main reason close to my heart) is that I wanted to give back and help a trust/charity who helped me when I needed it. Before I had Rosie, I suffered an ectopic pregnancy in December 2020. This nearly resulted in me nearly losing my life due to internal bleeding.

Before my ectopic pregnancy, I never really heard of them or knew what they were. I didn’t realise the seriousness of this condition and also the fact that it usually happens so early on in a pregnancy it is hard to detect until sometimes the damage has been done.

Having suffered this experience, I want to be able to support the only registered ectopic pregnancy charity to get the awareness out. I didn’t receive any counselling or support after my ectopic pregnancy and was left to ‘get on with it’. Luckily, I had my little miracle Rosie 10 months later.

So being able to set up a boutique just seemed like such a good idea, not only would I hopefully be saving parents some money rather than having to pay the price of buying new, I would also be helping the environment with less clothes being taken too land fill and also being able to support such a good cause.

Therefore by supporting this charity, 15% of all my profit (i.e. 15% on every order) will be donated so that they have more resources available to support women who have sadly suffered an ectopic pregnancy.

You can find Cilla’s lovely range of second hand clothes via her website, Ditto Clothing Boutique

Paige

I found The Ectopic Pregnancy Trust after Googling about ectopic pregnancies after being diagnosed with mine back in May 2020. I didn’t really know much about them as no one I knew had been through it. The only thing I really knew was when Charlotte Crosby had hers, even then I didn’t massively research.

After I had my ectopic pregnancy, I found it really hard accepting that this was just unfortunate and out of my control. I reached out to the Trust and I began emailing a buddy for support and to just vent and having the chance to express my feelings.

After my ectopic pregnancy, I decided I would start my own small crafting business as I felt it would be good for my mind and it stopped me overthinking. When I found my love for crochet, I felt I wanted to make a difference to others who had been and are going through the same troubles I did. That’s when I started to make handmade items to remember the pregnancy by in a positive way instead of it being a negative. I found once I accepted what had happened, life seemed a brighter place again.

I decided I wanted to work alongside the charity to raise money for them so they can continue raising awareness and also helping the families who need it, just like I did last year.

Vicky

We found out about The Ectopic Pregnancy Trust when I was handed a pack of leaflets in hospital having found out our first pregnancy was ectopic – something until that point, I knew nothing of and had never heard of. They were invaluable in helping answer questions that hadn’t been answered or simply couldn’t take in at the time. This was in November 2020 so right in the midst of the pandemic and I had to attend hospital without my husband.

We accessed the website where we found so much useful information and answers to questions we didn’t even know we had. I also accessed the forum where I found a lot of comfort finding out I wasn’t alone and learning about others similar experiences. Here I also got talking to another lady who had a very similar story to mine with roughly the same timeline. We really helped each other and exchanged messages every few days. We are still in contact now and is a friend for life.

After our first ectopic pregnancy, I did a Facebook birthday fundraiser and was overwhelmed by how much it raised. So when we experienced our second ectopic pregnancy last month (August 2021 and nearly 9 months to the day of the first), we knew we wanted to try and do more as I had a different procedure this time the EPT was the first place I went  when I needed answers and reassurance.

I very recently started doing sublimation crafts so wanted to use this new hobby to help raise funds and came up with two designs which could be put on products – one has two hearts, one enclosed within the other with a rainbow running through them both and the other has a heart made of forget-me-nots. After my first ectopic pregnancy, I designed the rainbow heart, had it made in glass as a keepsake, and felt it represented mother and pregnancy.

If we can raise awareness and fundraise to help the Trust so nobody has to go through this traumatic experience alone and has a place they can go to find answers and reassurance like we did, then it feels like it’s just something we want to do.

You can find Vicky’s products via their social media pages:

Facebook: Tin Can Design store www.tincan.design

Georgia

I first found out I was pregnant at the end of January 2021, with my first pregnancy at the age of 22. Unfortunately, a few weeks later, I started to bleed and, while I was sat in the Early Pregnancy Unit, I saw a poster for The Ectopic Pregnancy Trust in the waiting room but chose to ignore it because I never thought that I would be 1 in 80.

A few days later, I was asked to go back in for more tests and was diagnosed with an ectopic pregnancy. I feel that the hospital unfortunately couldn’t support me as I would have liked through this process, especially due to being in strict lockdown. I had to go through this experience completely alone as my partner at the time wasn’t allowed to be with me. The doctor handed me an information pack from The Ectopic Pregnancy Trust which I had to sit and read through before I was treated with methotrexate. The hospital provided me with treatment and sent me on my way to recover at home, but didn’t explain the different symptoms I would experience. I felt so alone, so confused and heartbroken.

I spent hours reading through The Ectopic Pregnancy Trust website, which was so informative. Reading through the forums helped me feel a little less alone. I then came across the Facebook group and that helped me so much. With women talking about their own experiences, it was a safe place to ask questions and support other women and men. I used it a few times when I was concerned about my recovery and the women showed me so much love and support. I also followed The EPT on Instagram. Being a young healthy woman, I really struggled with coming to terms with why this happened to me but I met another young woman who had created an Instagram page for her EPT1000 challenge and to this day I would call her my closest friend. I am so thankful to the EPT for helping me find her. We have helped, supported and cared for each other since we first started talking about our experiences.

I also used The EPT support line after experiencing some very heavy bleeding. I spent seven hours in A&E on Mother’s Day to be told in the waiting room ‘this is normal for your failed pregnancy’ but I still didn’t feel reassured so I reached out to ask for help because I was scared. I had a response within a few hours reassuring me, kindly and calmly that it was completely normal and there was support there for me if I needed it.

I am so so thankful for The EPT, the Facebook group of loving women who don’t know me but showed me so much support and love, the detailed information on the website, and the leaflet that I was given in hospital – these resources helped me understand what was going on and my treatment and recovery, reassured me when I was scared for my physical health and felt like I couldn’t trust my doctors and lastly, introduced me to my best friend. I still have a long way to go with my recovery, emotionally, but I couldn’t have come this far without The Ectopic Pregnancy Trust and for that I am forever thankful.

I want to use my small platform not only to raise money for this important charity but also to raise awareness and speak out on difficult topics like pregnancy loss and the mental health problems that come with it. I have had so many women thank me for raising awareness following their experiences and it means so much to me. I can’t wait to continue this journey raising money and awareness.

You can find Georgia’s wax melts via her charity page on her Lounlo Candles website.

Charlie

Back in 2013, I survived an ectopic pregnancy. I went to hospital where my Fallopian tube ruptured and I was bleeding internally. I had never heard of an ectopic pregnancy or how life threatening it could be. After surgery, the support I so desperately needed wasn’t available. That was until I found The Ectopic Pregnancy Trust support page. The ladies on the page literally saved my life. I was in a spiral of depression and had attempted to end it all a few times. I felt so alone but by talking to these ladies I realised I wasn’t on my own. These fantastic women who had all had different kinds of ectopic pregnancies made me feel worthwhile again and helped me to understand that it wasn’t my fault it had happened. Fast forward 7 years and I now have a beautiful boy thanks to IVF and I started my journey to set up my own business Taronamo Treasures making bath bombs. I spent 7 months perfecting my recipes and getting my cosmetic safety assessment. From the very beginning, I knew I wanted to do something to help raise awareness for pregnancy and baby loss and to give back to The Ectopic Pregnancy Trust. I came up with the idea of making a bath bomb that would represent pregnancy and baby loss. I liked the idea that I could add contact details for different organisations so that anyone going through or have been through this and were feeling alone or wanting help but unsure where to go would be able to reach out. The product itself is coloured in amethyst and its filled with pink and blue embeds (this is the colour inside the bath bomb). It’s scented in baby powder. I wanted to use a subtle smell that would help the recipient relax and unwind. The product range is called Forget Me Not. What’s really good about using this fragrance is that there are no allergens, so it’s suitable for everyone. (please note that these should not be used on children under 3 years of age) I have bath bombs with the awareness ribbon painted on them as well as Unicorn Dust, which is a powdered version of the bath bomb and Carpet Fresh, which is a home fragrance product which can be used on carpets, upholstery, mattresses or used in water to mop floors. All of these are scented with the same fragrance and this range of products had 50% of the money made from the sale donated to The Ectopic Pregnancy Trust.

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