A woman has set up a charity following a devastating miscarriage and failed pregnancy within months of each other.  

Laura Porter’s world collapsed when doctors told her the baby she was carrying had no heartbeat.  

Shortly after she discovered she had fallen pregnant again, but her joy soon turned to sadness when she suffered a dangerous ectopic pregnancy, resulting in surgeons having to remove her fallopian tube.  

The devastating news sent the 37-year-old spiralling into a crushing depression that she felt the only escape from was to take her own life.  

Glasgow Times:

Brave Laura, who was raised in Drumchapel, told the Glasgow Times: “I never thought I could get pregnant as I’d always struggled to conceive in the past.

“I was elated to find out we were expecting, but then began to bleed heavily and was told the baby was gone. It was absolutely heart-breaking and I had no idea how to cope.

“Then I discovered I was pregnant again. I was nervous and anxious but tried to reassure myself that everything would be fine this time around. I never had time to process or grieve for my first loss and that only made the second even harder when it came.  

“I started bleeding heavily and went straight to hospital. After several scans and tests, doctors discovered the foetus was growing inside my fallopian tube. There was no other option but to remove it and my heart just sank.

“After surgery I remember waking up thinking ‘how did this happen, how did I lose two babies so close together?”.

Laura left hospital in April last year with a leaflet on losing a child and tried to convince herself she was coping.

Glasgow Times:

She returned to her busy business the following day and tried to bury her feelings.  

However, just a few months later Laura, who runs a skin and beauty business and counts an array of celebrities among her clients, found herself struggling to cope and unable to find the right support.  

She said: “I tried to put a brave face on things, but not talking about how I was feeling just made it all worse.

“I rushed back to work and never took time to recover or process what I’d gone through. 

“It took a while for the reality of it to hit me. Things got so bad I just wanted to escape from it all. Ending my life seemed like my only option. I really didn’t want to go on.  

“I needed help and felt so upset that things had become so desperate. I had to make changes and get the right support to look after myself properly.”  

After speaking to her GP, Laura was described anti-depressants but instead decided to focus on wellbeing therapies including exercise and mediation to piece herself back together.  

Now she is setting up her own charity - Let’s Talk Fab - to offer a 24-hour telephone helpline, emotional support and retreats to help others coping with the loss of a baby and fertility struggles.  

Glasgow Times:

Laura, who now lives in Rutherglen, added: “Losing a child is a traumatic experience and I really struggled to find the right support.  

“I’d only had one miscarriage and one ectopic pregnancy so wasn’t eligible for any tests to try to find a medical reason for my loss.

“I know what it’s like to go home from hospital with no support. That’s why I’m determined this charity will be there for others when they need it most.  

“I’ve managed to rebuild my life by looking after my wellbeing and embarking on counselling and mediation. Not everyone has that luxury and that’s why we exist.  

“We offer a variety of services including a telephone helpline, experiential day retreats, cold water swimming and yoga to help soothe and calm the mind. People can interact with others who are going through the same type of experience.  

“This is why I wanted to start a charity that could help fund a day retreat experience where individuals who are drained and exhausted from their daily fertility and birth struggles can escape and switch off, even just for 24 hours.”  

Glasgow Times:

To help raise additional funds for the charity, Laura is putting her two decades of skincare expertise to good use. She is launching a new series of products where 50% of the income from all stock will be donated directly to the charity.  

She added: “I wanted the charity to have the best start and was happy to financially support it in any way I can. I felt I had a great focus on finishing my skincare line during my healing process, so it just felt like using that to help was the right thing to do.”  

For more information on the charity, click here.