A COUPLE who suffered multiple miscarriages are raising awareness of a little-known charity which helped them through their ordeal.

Tracey and David Beadle, from Shildon, County Durham, endured the loss of eight pregnancies between 2005 and 2012, with each one occurring in the first trimester, before the 12-week mark.

Despite undergoing numerous tests at hospitals across the North-East and at a specialist unit in Liverpool, no cause was ever found for the miscarriages, something which Mrs Beadle says made the losses harder to cope with.

She said: “I think I wanted for them to find something wrong, because that would mean something could either be fixed or give us a reason to stop trying for a baby.

“That was really hard because we did not know when to stop.”

After the couple received invaluable support from The Miscarriage Association – a charity which offers support and information to those affected by the loss of a pregnancy – they decided to start raising money for the cause.

Mr Beadle recently took part in the Great North Run on the charity’s behalf, raising £1,000, taking their fundraising total to £5,000, since 2008.

Mrs Beadle, who has two teenage children, Dylan and Quinn, from a previous relationship, said: “The fundraising has helped us a lot.

“We got a lot of messages from people who saw Dave running in his Miscarriage Association vest.

“Men are affected by it too but they are often forgotten about.

“A miscarriage is often a taboo subject and it should not be.

“The minute you mention the word ‘miscarriage’, it’s all hushed words and people just seem to think it should be kept quiet.

“We want to raise awareness and make people realise it is ok to talk about it.”

Meanwhile, Mrs Beadle hopes to set-up a local support group for women who have suffered miscarriages.

Although she received help online and over the phone from The Miscarriage Association, she found no support groups nearby.

She said: “There is help available online and over the phone but what people want is to talk face to face about how it feels and ask questions.”

Anyone interested in joining the support group should email Mrs Beadle on mil_lees@hotmail.co.uk.

For help and support on pregnancy loss, visit miscarriageassociation.org.uk.