THE heartbreak of losing a baby during childbirth is still a painful memory for Clare and Danny Davies — but that has not stopped them from thanking the medical teams who helped them through the ordeal.

Mr and Mrs Davies, from Atherton, were overjoyed when they discovered they were expecting in May, 2013 and after their first ultrasound scan, they affectionately named their baby “Spud”.

Mrs Davies had a difficult pregnancy but nothing could have prepared her for the trauma of the birth on August 30 last year.

Mr Davies, aged 34, said: “It’s all a blur looking back at it now but all I can remember is being told our baby would be born that night.

“I didn’t know what that meant at the time. All I felt was fear of losing both my wife and my baby at the same time.”

Their baby boy was stillborn that night, leaving the couple devastated.

Yet they say they could not have coped without the support of the staff on the maternity unit the Royal Bolton Hospital.

Mr Davies says they will always miss their little boy but felt it was important to thank the team of doctors and nurses who helped them.

The 34-year-old rounded up a team of family and friends to take on the Manchester Survival of the Fittest event, a 10km obstacle course, to raise cash for the maternity unit.

Mr Davies added: “We were devastated. Little Spud was our first child and words can’t describe how it feels to go through something like that.

“Yet even looking back on something so traumatic and awful, we can remember how brilliant the staff were with us and we just wanted to do something to say thank you.

"We are still grieving and I don’t think that will ever go away completely. I think one of the ways to cope has been through remembrance.

“I had a bucket list of things to do before I was 40. One of them was to become father and I am still proud to say I am a father to our little boy.”

The couple have donated more than £1,600 to the delivery suite at the Royal Bolton Hospital.