Linslade man's marathon charity challenge in memory of brother and baby twin boy

Jonathan Bath, 40, will be taking on the London Marathon next year as he aims to raise £5,000 to share between Mind, Shelter, and the Skye High Foundation.

The determined runner has chosen the mental health charity in memory of his sibling, Chris Bath, who died by suicide in September, and the homelessness cause in honour of the work that Chris – an award winning architect – did for community housing projects.

Meanwhile, he is supporting the Skye High Foundation as a thank you for its help when he and his wife lost their twin baby, Hunter, at just four days old.

Reflecting on the past few years, Jonathan said: "My brother, Chris, he was my hero. I looked up to him as a father figure who held our family together. His smile was infectious and he cared for everyone.

"With our son Hunter, my wife and I looked into his eyes, and cared for him for four days and we have these memories which we will treasure forever”.

Jonathan and his family first encountered the Skye High Foundation – set up in 2016 by Millie and Lewis Cann in memory of their twin daughter, Skye – at Luton and Dunstable Hospital after the birth of their own twins, Hudson (now three) and Hunter in June 2021.

The charity provided a purple butterfly card for Hudson's incubator, so that medical staff and other patients would know that the family were grieving the loss of his sibling.

Jonathan said: "Not knowing about twins, your first reaction is, 'there's two of them, it's amazing'. But when having them yourself, you understand the complexities."

Hudson and Hunter made their entrance unexpectedly early and instead of a planned c-section at 31 weeks, due to complications, were born naturally at just 26+5 weeks,

Jonathan said: "We arrived at the hospital at around 8pm in the evening and by 9.32pm Hunter was born, weighing 1lb, 12oz, and at 9.34pm Hudson arrived, weighing 2lbs 2oz. They would have fitted into the palm of your hand."

The boys were rushed off for urgent medical treatment, meaning Jonathan and his wife, Gemma, didn't see them for around eight to nine hours.

Jonathan said: "It was the complete unknown. Going into the NICU [Neonatal Intensive Care Unit], you have to navigate that journey. There are about ten to 15 incubators scattered around the room and you don't know what to expect.

"Unfortunately, we had to make the heart breaking decision to turn off Hunter's life support machine.

"Holding your baby in your arms and then losing them, it's the most painful thing you can ever experience in your life.

"We had to deal with the grief, but we had to keep going for Hudson."

It was during these "hard and dark days" that the Skye High Foundation offered a lifeline, with the purple butterfly card making staff and families in the NICU more sensitive and understanding.

After "battling for his life", Hudson was finally able to go home after 101 days thanks to the "incredible" staff at the NICU – and is now thriving and enjoying family life with his big brother Oakley.

The family wore purple butterfly T-shirts as they left the hospital, and Jonathan became a trustee of the Skye High Foundation in 2022 – something Jonathan’s late brother Chris was particularly proud of.

Jonathan said: "Skye High has massively helped with my grieving process. Four of the five trustees have been through the same thing, and I am passionate about supporting others who find themselves in such unprecedented circumstances.

"The foundation was set up to help families dealing with the loss of a baby who was part of a multiple birth – the cot card is used in conjunction with a poster that is placed around maternity and neonatal units, explaining the meaning of the purple butterfly."

The team are delighted to be launching the project in America next year, with cot cards and information soon to be translated in 35 different countries available – and families up and down the UK can receive pin badges, T-shirts, teddy bears, and memory boxes.

Jonathan has also set up 'Hunter’s Butterfly Fund', an initiative which provides families with the opportunity to set up a fund in memory of their child - and in the past three years his family have raised over £22,000 for the charity.

Sadly, the family were rocked by another tragedy when Chris, 43, unexpectedly died on September 27, leaving behind his wife Allyson and two sons, Hooper and Foley.

Jonathan added: "Chris was an incredible person who impacted so many lives with his smile, kind heart, and infectious personality.

"He was an award-winning architect and partner at Bptw who led development projects throughout southeast England.

"To quote one of his contacts, 'He was in the top one per cent of his profession, everyone wanted a Chris Bath leading their team'."

Chris was passionate about using the power of design to "strengthen communities" and "enrich" people's lives – and his work on Rochester Riverside, a highly successful regeneration project, earned Bptw its first Housing Design Award in 2020.

"As you can imagine, the loss has left our family completely heartbroken," said Jonathan.

The marathon contestant is choosing to honour his brother by running for Shelter, a charity campaigning for housing justice who are at "the frontline of the housing crisis", solving people’s housing problems every day.

"This supports Chris’s work with the need to build more homes in the UK, particularly social housing," explained Jonathan.

Meanwhile, he has also chosen Mind, whose aim is to make sure that no one has to face a mental health problem alone.

Jonathan added: "I’m passionate about raising awareness of mental health, in particular men’s mental health. We need to understand that it’s okay to be vulnerable, talk and cry, and see this as a superpower instead of bottling it all up inside.

"As a society, we still don’t know enough to understand how our minds work, and it's very important to value and support each other’s mental health."

If you would like to donate to Jonathan's charities, click here.

For mental health support, call the Mind helpline on 0300 102 1234 (Mondays to Fridays, 9am – 6pm) or for 24 hour support, call Samaritans for free on 116 123.