Halifax's Ben Moorhouse to take on 180-mile non-stop walking challenge this summer

Halifax resident Ben Moorhouse will take on a herculean 180-mile non-stop extreme challenge walk this July.
Ben MoorhouseBen Moorhouse
Ben Moorhouse

In October 2018 Ben's daughter Kallipateira was stillborn at 38 weeks of pregnancy in Calderdale and the couple then experienced a miscarriage in May 2019 at nine weeks of pregnancy.

Kallipateira’s death was fully preventable.

Ben and his partner Gaynor Thompson launched their own charity to help save babies' lives through research and supporting other parents who have experienced the death of a baby.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Following the stillbirth of their daughter and miscarriage, the couple knew if they wanted to have the best chance of another child with a better outcome, they must be cared for by Professor Alexander Heazell of the Tommy’s Rainbow Clinic and Research Centre in Manchester.

On May 23, 2020, Gaynor gave birth to their rainbow baby boy Apollon in Manchester. Apollon survived due to the love and specialist care from Professor Heazell and his team.

The full pregnancy was a kept a secret from family and friends.

To help save babies' lives nationally, Professor Heazell and his team are now the main beneficiary of The Kallipateira Moorhouse Foundation.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

On August 14, 2021, Ben, along with his support team of Gaynor and Jason Croft, successfully walked around the full Greek island of Rhodes – a total of 150 miles non-stop and with no sleep, in just 42 hours at the height of summer in extreme heat and humidity.

Ben was seeing double for the final 30 miles but battled through to the finish line in memory of his much-loved daughter and raised £7,000 for Professor Heazell and his team.

On July 16 this yea, Ben will take on his biggest UK extreme challenge when walks from the Tommy’s Research Centre in London at St Thomas’s Hospital to the Tommy’s Rainbow Clinic and Research Centre in Manchester at Saint Mary’s Hospital – a total of 180 miles non-stop and with no sleep.

Ben is looking to do this in 60 hours or less and has set himself a target of £10,000 with all funds going direct to Professor Heazell and his team.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Ben said: “Dads are sadly forgotten about by most of society when it comes to the death of a baby. Not a day goes by where I don’t cry for my daughter.

"Everyone grieves differently and I channel my grief and pain by taking on my extreme challenge walks. If I didn’t do what I do for my daughter and to help others in the process it would have been so easy to go down a different path.

"Every step I make is through the love of my daughter Kallipateira. Many stillbirths in the UK are preventable and by supporting research we can help save babies' lives.

"People have done this walk before over a week or more with hotel stops along the way, but I will do this in one go with no sleep along with my support team who it will also be a challenge for.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

"We have all seen in recent months the upsetting news on baby deaths which many could have been prevented and more recently the sad news of well-known celebrities experiencing the death of a baby. I would like to ask the media and public to please support me in my quest to raise as much as possible to help save babies' lives nationally.”

Professor Alexander Heazell, Director of the Tommy's Stillbirth Research Centre said: “The team at the Tommy’s Stillbirth Research Centre are so grateful to Ben and Gaynor for their donations to support our work to reduce the number of babies dying and to improve care for parents.

"We are in awe of what Ben puts himself through to raise money, in memory of Kallipateira, so that other babies are born healthy and well. We’ll be looking forward to supporting Ben in July and to welcome him when he arrives at the research centre.”

Auto Trader, who are the official extreme challenge walk sponsor, said: “Auto Trader are really proud to be working with Ben and his team at the Kallipateira Moorhouse Foundation.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

"At Auto Trader, our family network are committed to supporting colleagues who experience fertility problems, miscarriage and baby loss and so the work that the Kallipateira Moorhouse Foundation do to raise awareness of stillbirth really resonates and truly aligns with our wider family and wellbeing strategy.

"We are absolutely thrilled to be supporting Ben on his next challenge and are looking forward to playing our part in helping him to smash that target!”

Ben can be supported at www.justgiving.com/manchester2022.