Brave Derby mum speaks of how special cuddle cot helped her spend more time with her son

Posted by nathan lloyd | Published: 18/04/2017

A brave mum has spoken out about the benefits of a device that allows grieving parents to spend precious final hours with their babies after they have passed away.

Laura Elliott, from Chaddesden, lost Cowen after he contracted Meningococcal Septicaemia at just 17 days old in October last year.

However, the 27-year-old mother of two and her family were able to bond with Cowen by using a cuddle cot for 18 days from Central England Co-operative Funeralcare, in Chaddesden, which offers a cooling pad in a Moses basket to give relatives more time to say goodbye.

She has decided to speak out to raise awareness of the dangers of Meningococcal Septicaemia and to highlight her own charity event aimed at raising enough money to buy a cuddle cot that could help parents who have lost a child while at Royal Derby Hospital.

Laura said: “The day that Cowen passed away was just a normal morning and I was going about my daily business.

“I then went to feed and get Cowen ready and knew something was wrong when I lifted the covers and noticed that his skin was mottled and he had pinprick bruising all over him.

“We rushed him straight to the Royal Derby Hospital – it was so overwhelming as within minutes of getting there dozens of people had poured into the room to try and help.

“Specialists were coming from all over the country but it was already too late - after three and a half hours doctors told us they were going to have to stop keeping Cowen alive and he passed away.”

Meningococcal Septicaemia is an infection in the bloodstream and symptoms can include fever, fatigue, vomiting, cold hands and feet, severe aches and pains, rapid breathing, diarrhoea and a dark purple rash.

Parents who recognise any or all of these signs in an infant or child are urged to call their doctor straight away.

As the family turned their thoughts towards saying goodbye to Cowen, they found out about a way they could spend a little more time bonding with him.

Laura added: “We first heard about the cuddle cot when we started to talk about laying Cowen to rest and were working with the great team at Central England Co-operative’s Funeral Home in Chaddesden.

“Once I heard about the device I knew it would help us as a family and it was quite simply amazing.

“It allowed me and members of my family to spend time and bond with Cowen and get to say goodbye and grieve properly.

“I think these devices are vital to helping parents who have lost a child and there simply are not enough of them.

“I was able to visit Cowen every single day and spend all day with him until he was laid to rest as were members of my family. Being able to use this was of great comfort to us all.

“That is why I am fund-raising to pay for one for the Royal Derby Hospital in the hope that if someone has to go through what I did that they have the option to say a proper goodbye to their child.

“The cuddle cot played a vital part in our grieving process as did the amazing relationship we had with the staff at Central England Co-operative Funeral Home in Chaddesden. They were amazing.

“The use of a cuddle cot will not be for everyone, but for me it was what I needed and meant I could bond and properly say goodbye to my son. I will never, ever forget being given the chance to do that.”

Laura will be hosting a special clairvoyant charity event from 7pm on 11 May to raise money to go towards buying a cuddle cot for the Royal Derby Hospital and to raise awareness of Meningococcal Septicaemia.

Clairvoyant Annette Moss will host the event, which will also include a raffle featuring prizes such as Derby County goodies and raft of vouchers.

Tickets cost £10 and the event is being held at The Canal Turn, Station Road, Spondon, DE21 7NE. Tickets are available on the night.

Anyone who cannot attend but would like to donate can visit justgiving.com/crowdfunding/cuddlecot-cowen

The cuddle cot project is one of the first of its kind in the funeral business and the cots are available across the trading area of Central England Co-operative.

The cuddle cots form part of The Rainbow Service, which offers a free of charge funeral service for children up to and including 17 years of age.

People can find out more about The Rainbow Service by visiting http://www.centralengland.coop/funeral-services or calling 0800 454 552.

Notes to editors

The cuddle cots will be based out of 10 primary locations across the entire Central England
Co-operative trading estate, but will be available to all funeral homes. They have been
provided by firm Flexmort.

The devices will be based at the following locations:
• Great Brook Street - Birmingham
• Stirchley -Birmingham
• Derby
• Heanor
• Corby
• Humberstone Road -Leicester
• Kings Lynn
• Peterborough
• Lowestoft
• Wellings – Burton

Photo captions:

Laura Elliott (1) Mum Laura and dad Mark with baby Cowen just after he passed away.
Laura Elliott (2) Baby Cowen with his sister Skyla and brother Ethan just one day before he passed away.
Laura Elliott (3) Baby Cowen just hours before he passed away.

About Central England Co-operative

Central England Co-operative is one of the largest independent retail co-operative societies in the UK. It is a modern, forward-looking organisation employing over 8,000 staff, with projected gross sales of £958million for 2016/17. The Society recently celebrated being named Leading Co-operative of the Year 2016 by Co-operatives UK. The Society’s principal areas of activity are food, funeral services, and property. The company’s funeral business consists of over 120 funeral homes across 16 counties, 10 florists, masonry production and administration, Bretby Crematorium and Terry Smiths coffin factory.

Central England Co-operative has more than 430 trading outlets across 16 counties including; West Midlands, Warwickshire, Worcestershire, Staffordshire, Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Rutland, Nottinghamshire, Northamptonshire, Lincolnshire, West Yorkshire, South Yorkshire, Suffolk, Norfolk, Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire.  The Society has an ambitious food store and funeral home development programme for 2017.

Central England Co-operative is proud of its reputation for ethical business practices and corporate responsibility.  It is a member of Business in the Community, the membership organisation that stands for responsible business, and has also won many business awards for excellence.  The Society supports a number of charities including Newlife Foundation for Disabled Children and invests a percentage of its trading profit into local communities.

Becoming a member of Central England Co-operative offers a whole host of benefits ranging from collecting points every time you spend in store to earn a share of the profits, access to members activities and community initiatives including the Community Dividend Fund, which hands out grants of up to £5,000 to charities and good causes across the Society’s trading estate.
Find out how to become a Central England Co-operative member by calling 0800 0501 601, emailing members@centralengland.coop or visiting https://www.members.coop

For more information visit http://www.centralengland.coop follo,w Central England Co-operative on Twitter: @mycoopfood, @mycooplife and on Facebook: facebook.com/centralenglandcooperative
Rob Smyth at Central England Co-operative on 01543 414140
Email – publicrelations@centralengland.coop