A PONTNEWYDD business will be illuminated in pink and blue to raise awareness for Baby Loss Awareness week.

King Financial Services, on Lowlands Road, is owned by husband and wife Mark and Fiona King.

Mr and Mrs King are hoping to raise awareness of the support which is available, after they have lost four children.

Mrs King, 39, said she hoped by sharing their experience, it could help others who are going through what they have experienced.

She said: “It is about addressing the stigma and raising awareness of the support which is out there. It is a really tough time and once you start talking about it, you find a lot of people have been through the same thing. “It was an emotional rollercoaster for me.

“We were married in August 2009. It was then when we formed the business.

“We decided that we wanted to have a family together.

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“I had my first miscarriage in January 2010. It was a silent miscarriage, meaning it didn’t show up until I had my 12-week scan.

“I lost a baby in April 2010 too. I was pregnant with my son Joseph, and lost him at 19 weeks on August 11, 2011.

“I had a really early miscarriage in 2012. We moved to Blaenavon in 2012. We had Luca who was born in July 2013 and we were lucky to have Lilly four years later. People are a lot better now at talking about it.

“When I had my first miscarriage, I would have people I knew, but didn’t know well, crossing the road to avoid speaking to me and asking how I was.

“After my second miscarriage. I handed in my notice at my old job. My boss said to me that people there didn’t know what to say to me.” Mrs King said there was limited support for parents who lost a child when they were experiencing this, although this had got better now.

“10 years ago there wasn’t any support really for parents and what support I did get was completely by chance,” she said. “My GP or the hospital didn’t recommend them. There was no support available for Mark that we could find.

“I thought we needed to do something this year. We have been through such a journey, and in the end we have had a happy ending. I have never really been emotionally strong enough before to talk about this and get involved with the charities but now I am looking to do that.

“The other business in the building, Rhian Davies Chiropody/Podiatry, and the owner of the building have been very supportive and agreed to do this with us.”

King Financial Services, along with a number of buildings across Wales, are lighting up our office building pink and blue for Baby Loss Awareness Week between Wednesday, October 9 and Tuesday, October 15.

Mr King, 49, said he hoped to raise awareness of the support parents were entitled to through work.

“It’s not so much the support for men that I was worried about,” he said. “But they weren’t able to say how you can support mums in this situation.

“It was an upsetting time for me, but most of all I wanted to be able to support Fiona.

“Part of the time I thought I didn’t want to talk about it, as I didn’t want to bring it up as it was upsetting for both of us, but other people were saying we should be talking about it with each other. It was difficult to know how to approach it.

“It is about making a stand and making a show that there are people out there who have been through this and can help people through this. A lot of people aren’t aware of the support you can get in work. Fiona was in a good job and she didn’t know she was only covered for three months before she would be put on statuary sick pay.

“Not only is it an upsetting time for you, but you also then have this financial stress too.

“We have experience with this, and hopefully we can help other people in the same situation.

“It’s about being aware of these things, not to make people worry, but to have that information to hand in case something doesn’t go to plan.”

During Baby Loss Awareness Week, there will be a memory tree planted within the multi-faith chapel at the Royal Gwent Hospital (Floor 3, D block) where any bereaved parents, patients, families or staff who have experienced the loss of a baby can come, take a moment to honour them and write their name, or a message to hang on the tree.

Support is available for parents at babyloss-awareness.org or cardiff-sands.co.uk

A football team, Sands United FC, has been set up for dads and other bereaved family members to come together through a shared love of sport and find a support network where they can feel at ease talking about their grief when they’re ready.

For more information about the team, or if interesting in joining, please visit sandsunited-cardiff.co.uk