Russell Howard 'devastated' after his baby son died hours after birth

Comedian Russell Howard has revealed that his infant son Felix died shortly after birth earlier this year. In a statement, he said he and his partner Cerys had faced "unimaginable heartache" and described it as "the astir devastating clip of our lives". Howard praised the "extraordinary compassion, kindness and humanity" of the hospital staff who cared for them during the period that followed Felix's death. He also announced the creation of a new foundation in their late son's name to assist families experiencing similar ordeals, with a fundraising event planned for next year. In a post on his social media accounts on Friday, available at https://x.com/russellhoward/status/2095811777258746084, Howard recalled: "During our clip successful hospital, Felix was placed successful a chill cot, which meant that my woman and I were capable to walk precious hours with our beauteous boy. " He added: "We could clasp him, speech to him and archer him however overmuch we loved him. Those hours are among the astir precious memories we person of Felix." Howard and Cerys had not publicly disclosed that they were expecting their second child at the time. The article includes a note for readers: If you person been affected by immoderate of the issues successful this story, assistance and enactment is disposable astat https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/4WLs5NlwrySXJR2n8Snszdg/information-and-support-suicide-feelings-of-despair. He explained that he and Cerys were assigned a bereavement midwife named Lauren, who had endured a comparable loss and retrained to support other families. Howard said: "Her attraction meant much to america than we could ever enactment into words." He continued: "We were overwhelmed by the attraction we received, and we made a committedness to each other: that we would effort to assistance different families who find themselves facing the aforesaid devastating circumstances." As a result, the couple is launching The Felix Foundation, which will aim to help families affected by miscarriage, premature birth, stillbirth, neonatal death or related bereavement. A fundraising event titled the Stand-Up Gala will take place at London's O2 Arena in February to raise funds for the charity. Michael McIntyre, Jimmy Carr, Aisling Bea