Mission

Four million newborn babies die every year in the first four weeks of their lives, and millions more die during the final trimester of pregnancy. Growth restriction and pre-term labour are leading causes of death and severe illness in late pregnancy and early life in both the developed and developing world.

Growth restriction occurs in 10-15% of all pregnancies.
Pre-term labour occurs in 7-10% of women.
Pre-eclampsia, a condition causing high-blood pressure in pregnancy, complicates about 10% of pregnancies. This condition is a common cause of growth restriction and the need for pre-term delivery.
More than 50% of babies delivered before 26 weeks gestation die and one out of two of the surviving babies will suffer from severe long-term handicaps. These problems commonly include cerebral palsy, brain haemorrhage, chronic lung disease and epilepsy.
Many of these vulnerable babies can succumb to abnormalities or complications, which are easily detected before birth, such as twin-twin transfusion syndrome or fetal anaemia, both safely treatable in the womb. These treatments can result in good neonatal and long term outcome. Pre-term and growth-restricted babies need specialised neonatal care. The cost of neonatal intensive care is approximately Ł1,000 per day, the emotional toll to parents and family is incalculable.

The statistics above show the huge number of people affected by the misery and fear caused by complications in pregnancy and childbirth. Many of These parents will benefit from further knowledge of the development of the fetus in the womb and improvements in in-utero therapy.

The Moonbeam Trust is funding the salaries of two Research Fellows through Imperial College, to investigate a syndrome known as Fetal Intrauterine Growth Restriction. This research is supervised by Mr Sailesh Kumar, a Consultant in Fetal Medicine at Queen Charlotte's and Chelsea Hospital, and Professor Mary Rutherford, Consultant in Perinatal Imaging at The Robert Steiner MRI Unit at the Hammersmith Hospital and Imperial College. The charity has financed the first year and now needs to raise money for the next two years.

We have raised money by organising charitable events and donations. The running costs are kept as low as possible and individuals donate their time to the charity, no-one is salaried.

The Moonbeam Trust is a charity that has emerged from the ashes of personal devastation of infertility, loss and other complications. We know the human cost and want to offer practical help. Sadly, funding for research and development into this area is limited and many excellent departments are unable to recruit talented individuals to conduct research into complications associated with pregnancy. We hope that this Fellowship is a small step in establishing one such research position and will be the first of similar appointments in the future. This research could change a life.