Sophie Nolan

🎀 Running for Autumn: The Daughter Who Changed the Law

Thursday 1st Oct

🎀 Running for Autumn — and for the babies who came after her

On 17 October 2017, I became a mum to my beautiful daughter, Autumn Orion.

Autumn was born at 22 weeks and 6 days following a subchorionic haematoma. We had been told throughout my labour that there was nothing that could be done for her because of her gestation. We were not given the opportunity we should have had to properly discuss her care with a neonatologist, despite repeatedly asking questions and trying to understand what options were available to us.

But Autumn wasn’t born the way they expected.

She was born alive.

She was breathing, moving her arms and legs, had a heartbeat and a pulse — and she even cried.

My tiny daughter lived for almost two hours.

For nearly two hours, I held my baby girl in my arms while asking for help.

I will never forget those hours. I will never forget watching my daughter show us that she was alive while feeling completely helpless as her mother.

Autumn deserved a chance.

And I deserved the chance to make an informed choice for my daughter.

What happened afterwards changed the course of my life.

I couldn’t accept that another family should ever find themselves in the same position. So, just six weeks after Autumn’s funeral, I began campaigning in her name.

I created AutumnsLaw17 — The Voice for the Silent.

I fought for parental choice, proper neonatal discussions and a system where parents of extremely premature babies are actually told their options, rather than having decisions effectively made for them because of a number on a calendar.

After years of campaigning, meetings, petitions and raising awareness, the hospital acknowledged that we should have been given the opportunity to discuss our options with a neonatologist and that, had Autumn been born alive, a plan should have been in place.

And the wider landscape changed too. UK guidance subsequently moved towards a risk-based approach for babies born from 22 weeks, rather than treating gestational age as the sole deciding factor. BAPM reports that the change was associated with a substantial increase in 22-week babies receiving survival-focused care. 

That is why this Ribbon Run means so much to me.

I’m not just running for a baby I lost. I’m running for my daughter, whose life changed the conversation.

Autumn may have lived for less than two hours, but those two hours mattered.

Her life mattered.

Her voice matters.

And every tiny baby born at 22 weeks deserves for their parents to be given the information, the choices and the opportunity that I fought so hard to have recognised.

So I run with Autumn beside me.

I run for the little girl I held in my arms.

I run for the daughter I should have watched grow.

I run for the mother I became because of her.

And I run for every parent standing where I once stood, praying that their baby will be given a chance.

Autumn Orion — 17 October 2017.

My daughter. My reason. My fight.

🎀 Forever her mum. Forever her voice. 🩷

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Autumn Orion Dennis

Thursday 1st Oct https://www.thesun.co.uk/fabulous/7810323/mum-shares-daughter-photos-dead/?fbclid=IwZnRzaAUrDdtleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBwZG9mAWZkaWQWUPc-MboYKdjN4R-z_YsHCgixAV3r8XNydGMGYXBwX2lkCjY2Mjg1NjgzNzkAAR5kGWmiKPLX0vvpXT56nLmeTSa6Sp8oIBm9LQXmAX0x_DJ31YyhWOLEOUFr1A_aem_fuIcL7bR2LTmLX0w15kB2w
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