Meet the Team

Jo and Mark Edwards

Hi, we are Jo and Mark Edwards. We set up Friends of Serenity in 2013 after we lost our son Luke due to Trisomy 13. We wanted to keep Luke’s memory alive and use our experiences as bereaved parents to support others. We began by making Trisomy 13 ribbons to help raise awareness and our charity snowballed from there. We are so proud of all the things we have achieved over the last 10 years and know that Luke is watching over us and feeling proud of everything we have achieved in his name. Thank you so much for visiting our website and finding out more about us. Any donations are gratefully received as they really do help so many other people at such a difficult time in their lives.

Lil Norbury

My name is Lil and I have been a trustee of Friends of Serenity since it was first set up by Jo and Mark. Jo and I have been friends for over 20 years, and I was heartbroken for her when she told me the news about Luke. My children had been so excited to be getting their new “cousin” and I know they would have all had so many happy times together if things had been different. When Jo told me that she was setting up FoS and asked me to come on board I was delighted to be asked.

Not only do I get the chance to support my friend as she does this amazing work, but it also gives me the chance to help Luke’s memory live on. Having lost my first baby due to an ectopic pregnancy I understand some of the feelings of loss and confusion that arise when we don’t get to take our babies home and I am so pleased to know that I have helped bring some comfort to families as they navigate their way through such awful times.

Rosie Strachan

My name is Rosie and I’ve been honoured to be a trustee of Friends of Serenity since 2019. I first learned of FoS after the premature birth and loss of our son Oliver in December 2016 at 22 weeks gestation. The memory box provided by FoS enabled us to make memories with him that we otherwise wouldn’t have been able to. After a subsequent early miscarriage at eight weeks, we were provided with a keepsake donated by FoS. To know that someone else was out there who knew that it didn’t matter that our loss was early this time, our baby still existed and still deserved recognising, was so comforting. We’ve been fortunate enough to go on to have two rainbow babies and have lived the bittersweet experience of pregnancy and parenting after loss.

Being a trustee has given me a way to continue to parent Oliver and his three other siblings lost to early miscarriage. It is a privilege to be a champion and the often silenced voice for bereaved parents. I hope that the work I support Jo and the team with has provided others with the comfort and knowledge that they are not alone and made what is a truly horrific time just a little gentler.

Lisa Brown

Hi, my name is Lisa. I first learned about Friends of Serenity when we lost our daughter Felicity in March 2019. Felicity was born at 21 weeks by emergency caesarean after I had severe hemorrhaging due to low-lying placenta and placenta accreta, I required a hysterectomy during delivery to save my life. Felicity was our fourth loss, we had suffered three early miscarriages between 2009 and 2013 before our son was born in 2014.

The box we received from Friends of Serenity brought us much comfort at the worst time, it allowed us to make memories with our baby girl. Because she was so tiny and there were no clothes that fit her we were able to dress her in the gown provided in the memory box.

After contacting Jo and expressing an interest in helping the charity I started volunteering by helping to make the memory boxes. Being involved with Friends of Serenity makes me feel like I am doing something to honour Felicity’s memory. I love helping to make the boxes as I understand how much they can mean to grieve families. I felt very honoured when I was asked to become a trustee for Friends of Serenity.