Butterfly Sculpture Brings Comfort and Visibility for Parents Grieving Baby Loss in Peterborough
A Local Midwife Shares How Memorial Helps Keep Her Son’s Memory Alive
A butterfly sculpture at Peterborough City Hospital dedicated to babies lost during pregnancy or shortly after birth is providing a place of comfort for grieving parents.
The idea for the tribute came from Midwife, Afton Cope, who tragically lost her little boy, Charlie, following a complicated pregnancy in 2023.
Afton, her sister, Lorren, a Nurse at PCH, and Bereavement Midwife, Lesley Carline, met with local artist Jeni Cairns to develop ideas for the stunning six-foot-wide sculpture that also features ornately crafted birds, flowers and insects.
For Afton the memorial has become a daily reminder of his memory and a way to channel her love.
"I had a placental abruption and sadly he was born sleeping and I was about halfway through my pregnancy, and I just wanted to kind of put that love and his memory into something that other people could visit and remember their babies," Afton explained.
She says passing the sculpture each day on her way to work brings solace:
"I pass the memorial every day on my way into work, so not that he's ever far from my thoughts, but just walking past it every day is just that little reminder about him and helps me to remember him and all the babies that we sadly lose."
Afton believes the memorial offers important visibility for parents who have experienced baby loss.
"Visibility for parents who've lost their babies is really important. It's obvious to everyone when someone's leaving the hospital with their newborn in their arms, but you can sometimes feel a bit invisible when you've lost a child because you don't have them to show at the end of it all," she said.
The sculpture includes butterfly imagery—widely recognised as a symbol for baby loss—as well as other meaningful symbols.
"The butterfly is really symbolic of baby loss, but we also discussed all the other symbols and she has interwoven them into the sculpture so that anyone who sees these things in their day-to-day life and it helps them to remember their babies, can then see them within the sculpture and feel seen," Afton added.
For Afton and others, the memorial ensures their babies are remembered and provides a visible space for reflection and connection.