Actress Sarah Parish and her husband Jamie Murray have shared two children together.
But tragically they lost their first daughter, Ella-Jayne, when she was just eight months old in January 2009.
Ella-Jayne was born with a serious heart defect and spent the first four months of life in intensive care.
Sarah, 53, and Jamie, 47, became parents to second daughter Nell later in the year they lost Ella-Jayne.
But the Stay Close star and The Crown actor have kept Ella-Jayne’s memory alive with stunning fundraising efforts for the medical department that cared for their daughter during her brief life.
Back in 2016, Sarah – who appears as a guest on Love Your Weekend with Alan Titchmarsh today (May 8) – opened up about her family’s grief.
Sarah Parish on dealing with her grief
The couple decided to thank medics and those who supported them through such a difficult time by raising money for the paediatric intensive care unit at Southampton hospital.
Sarah told The Guardian at the time: “Grief is a personal thing.
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“Jim and I knew we had to deal with Ella-Jayne’s death in our own way.
“So we went to Cambodia to work in an orphanage for a couple of months, and then we set up a charity, the Murray Parish Trust.”
How fundraising efforts began
Earlier this year, Sarah Parish and husband Jamie explained during an appearance on This Morning how their fundraising efforts began.
Sarah said: “When Ella-Jayne passed, we felt we couldn’t walk away from the hospital without giving something back to the surgeons and doctors and nurses and all the incredible people that helped us and her so much.
We started doing a couple of sponsored walks, and a cake bake sale.
“And so we started doing a couple of sponsored walks, and a cake bake sale… and then 10 years later we’ve turned into a full-time charity.”
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Reflecting on how the charity has helped raised 0ver £5 million, Sarah smiled modestly: “It has snowballed, somewhat.”
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And so will the effect the charitable work has for the health of young children in the region as that cash has contributed to a new equipment for children’s emergency and trauma department.
What a wonderful achievement in Ella-Jayne’s name!
Love Your Weekend with Alan Titchmarsh airs on ITV, Sunday May 8, at 10am.
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