It can happen to anyone

Gordon Brown is the new prime minister of the UK. Sadly he understands something about losing a much loved baby, suddenly and shockingly. It doesn't sound right to say "it's good" to have someone in a position of world power who understands the tragedy of losing a baby, but I guess you know what I mean.

When my first baby died almost a year ago, I struggled in the beginning to understand that I wasn't specifically chosen for this ordeal. It really can happen to anyone and can be completely indiscriminate.

Gordon Brown was the Chancellor of the Exchequer in the UK when his daughter Jennifer Jane Brown was born seven weeks prematurely by C-section. Her mother had a low level of amniotic fluid and Jennifer had IUGR. She was expected to be fine despite her low birth weight but she died ten days later after a brain haemorrhage, a common occurrence in pre-term babies.

I can imagine that, since she was born on 28th December and died on 7th January, the festive period brings back so many emotions for her parents.

Gordon and Sarah Brown now have two sons. Their first son was born two years after Jennifer Jane. Their second son was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis when he was four months old.

You can read an archive news story from 2002 about Jennifer Jane Brown here.