In her 11 days of life Maeva fought the greatest fight and made her daddy and I so unbelievably proud

Maeva’s proud parents Carley and Martin Cowburn ran the race in relay as members of one of three teams of four runners. Their teammates included Maeva’s great uncle Paul Tomlinson, her godmother Sarah Brooks and aunts Grace Milson and Ana Cameron as well as family friends.

Maeva’s aunt Nicola Millington ran the marathon in full as did godfather Will Howarth and Chris Davies while uncles Daniel Tomlinson, James Cameron, Darren Cameron, Jake Cowburn and Martin Wells as well as family friends completed the course as part of four two runner relay teams. In all, Team Maeva had 23 runners all wearing bright pink t-shirts sporting Maeva’s photo and the runner’s relationship to her.

In addition, big sister Anais (five) and cousins Luna, Ben, Joey, Honey, and Hugo wore white versions of the special race day t-shirts to help other family members and friends, plus Martin’s son Archie (12), lead the cheerleading and take up a bucket collection.

Carley said: “It was a fabulous day but very emotional. We had trained for months. I welled up as I crossed the finishing line. Special thanks to all our family and friends who supported us on the day and before the race with page shares, donations, and fundraising. Special thanks also to Harriet Tomlinson, Laura Rawcliffe and Jamie Wright, who trained but were unable to run on the day but who remained a solid part of the team.”

Maeva was 37-year-old Carley’s miracle baby. Carley suffers from endometriosis, a condition which can make conceiving more difficult. It took her 10 years and IVF to become pregnant with Anais, but Maeva was a honeymoon baby, conceived naturally following Carley and Martin’s wedding in November 2022.

Carley, who is a lead nurse specialising in infection control for Circle Health Group, said: “Maeva was a miracle. My pregnancy with her was completely unexpected, a total surprise. After the struggle to have Anais, I didn’t think I could become pregnant naturally.”

At her 20-week scan with Maeva, Carley, who also runs her own aesthetics clinic, Anais Aesthetics, from her Fleetwood home, was told Maeva may have a chromosomal condition. She was referred to Manchester’s St Mary’s Hospital for further tests. Doctors there discovered Maeva had an ultra-rare form of a very rare genetic syndrome, Kabuki KDM6A.

It lead to Maeva developing another very serious and often fatal condition in the womb called Non-Immune Fetal Hydrops and for this reason, Maeva was born at 33 weeks at the Royal Preston Hospital last June where she was cared for by the NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit) team. Maeva died after developing further complications, but Carley and Martin were given a special, private room that had been funded by Baby Beat so that they were able to spend additional time with Maeva.

Carley said: “Throughout her short life, Maeva fought the greatest fight and made her daddy and I so unbelievably proud. Everyone who knew her loved her, which is why we wanted to spread that love by raising money for Baby Beat in Maeva’s name.”

To support Maeva’s fundraising, visit www.gofundme.com/f/miraculousmaeva

Joanna Allitt, fundraising manager for Baby Beat, said: “We are incredibly grateful to Carley, Martin and all Maeva’s family and their friends for this wonderful donation. It really will mean Maeva will help so many other new parents and poorly babies from throughout Lancashire and South Cumbria. Maeva’s life may have been short, but she will live long from this outpouring of love for her.”

Carley has written a blog on being pregnant with a poorly baby, which she hopes will help other expectant parents in a similar situation. Read it at https://miraculousmaeva.wordpress.com/

Baby Beat is part of the Lancashire Teaching Hospitals Charity family. It funds specialist equipment, patient services and comforts, clinical care, local research, additional training, and staff welfare projects so that the maternity and gynaecology teams can offer the best possible outcomes for babies and mums in the Central Lancashire and Chorley area. With Baby Beat’s support, NICU continues to provide exceptional care for premature and sick babies and their families from across Lancashire and South Cumbria. For further information on its work and how to support, visit www.babybeat.org.uk