Norwich City is delighted to announce that TimeNorfolk have been chosen as the club’s matchday charity partner.
TimeNorfolk provides free wellbeing support to anyone who has experienced a pregnancy related issue, including pregnancy loss at any stage, pregnancy choice or baby loss. They create safe spaces where people are welcomed to come as they are, with their grief, concerns, hopes and fears.
Every year 2,500 babies are stillborn, one in three women will have a termination before the age of 45, 40,000 families will be told their baby has a chance of a fetal anomaly and 250,000 women will experience miscarriage.
TimeNorfolk want to raise awareness of these shocking statistics and remind people that no two people’s stories are the same.
The charity offers face to face support at any of their centres in Norwich, Great Yarmouth and King's Lynn.
TimeNorfolk aims to preserve and protect women and men’s mental health, and the mental health of their partners and families and to advance the education of the public through counselling and support.
The charity has been given permission to share a story from a father who received support from TimeNorfolk following a termination for medical reasons.
“Heartbreakingly, it was confirmed that our little boy had spina bifida and severe brain development issues. The worst moment of my life had just happened and it was about to get worse when we were advised that it was extremely unlikely that he would make the full pregnancy and if he did, he could die during birth. We had to make the most difficult decision of our lives to end our little boy's life. I have never felt so much heartbreak in my whole life as I did in those few days.
"Making the decision was only part of the pain as my wife had to go through the pain and anguish of giving birth to our little boy and I felt helpless to be able to do anything to take the pain and suffering away from her, instead I felt like a useless and powerless bystander.
"A few years on, I started to realise that my anxiety levels were still higher than the usual confident person I was. I wasn’t always sleeping well and had become more short-tempered and frustrated and sometimes angry at work and at home.
"I contacted TimeNorfolk, although very apprehensive about doing so, as I didn’t know what to expect and thinking that a man shouldn’t need this support.
"From the initial assessment and through all of my counselling sessions, TimeNorfolk has helped me to process my grief and guilt and have made me feel whole again and back to the old me, or at least as close I will ever be after our experience. I cannot thank them enough for the level of support and understanding they have given me and would recommend anyone who experiences anything like what we experienced to contact them.”
Through matchday activation, our focus is to help charitable organisations raise awareness of their work and to raise funds.
If you have been affected by pregnancy loss, baby loss or an unexpected pregnancy please do reach out for support via timenorfolk.org.uk/support. TimeNorfolk welcomes referrals from men and women whether your loss was recent, or a long time ago.
