Hana Earley has raised money for Tommy’s by transforming a tree on her village green in Redbourn into a rainbow memorial for babies born sleeping. With the help of friends she’s knitted and crocheted yards of multi-coloured yarn patterns to wrap around and completely cover the tree.
Hana decided to raise money for Tommy’s and ‘yarn-bomb’ the tree in recognition of women who have lost babies everywhere, including several of her closest friends:
“Some of my closest friends have lost babies, miscarried and have had stillbirths, and so I wanted this tree to be for them and for their loss. A baby born after a miscarriage or loss of a baby is referred to as a rainbow baby, and this rainbow tree remembers all babies born sleeping, that we’ve carried but never met, those we’ve held but couldn’t take home, the ones that came home but didn’t stay.”
This colourful symbol of hope has been met with great enthusiasm and has so far raised around £1,500. The tree has attracted visitors from neighbouring towns and even inspired some women to make their own knitted additions to the tree:
“Some mummies have knitted their own flowers and added to the tree to remember their little ones, which was an unexpected but very beautiful response to the tree.”
The rainbow tree will be on show in Redbourn until June 11. We want to thank Hana for all her hard work and hope that her rainbow tree brings comfort and inspiration to those suffering from pregnancy loss everywhere.
