Cookie's 100 mile Christmas Challenge for Our Sam

My name is Cookie and I live in a beautiful place overlooking a mountain called Moel Famau, near Mold in North Wales. I live with my horsey family Abbie, Charlie and my annoying big little brother, Marley, and my mum lives not far away, so she can look after us all.

I am 10 years old, and I came to live with my mum when I was just a small foal. My mum gave me a home for a very special reason. She said that although she hadn't intended to take me home that day, as she had only called into the pony auction to buy a sack of carrots, when she saw me running round the ring, she fell in love with me, and before she knew it the hammer went down, and she always says I was the best £30 she ever spent.

So what was my mum's special reason for wanting me? Well I didn't know it when she was waving her arms like a mad thing on the edge of the sales ring with a bidding number in her hand that day, but I wasn't the only baby coming into her life. My mum was expecting another baby, but of the two-legged kind. This two-legged baby was going to be my lifelong friend and partner in crime. We were to grow up together. I had to be really patient though as I wasn't going to to have to wait another 26 weeks to meet her. How lucky was I to be chosen for such a special reason?

I watched mum's tummy grow, as she started to struggle to fit between the arms of the wheelbarrow when she came to muck out my stable, and feed and brush me.

The weeks went by and I was really excited, but then one day my mum didn't arrive to give me my breakfast, or take me to the field, this other lady came instead. As she led me to the field I looked behind me, but no sign of my mum. In fact days went by and I didn't see her, I was getting really worried.

Finally, many days later, I heard the sound of my mums car arriving at breakfast time. I stood on my tiptoes to peer over the door, as I was only very small and the door was much too big for me, and there she was. I shouted my enthusiastic greeting as always, but there was something different about my mum. Her tummy wasn't big and round any more, and when I lifted my head to kiss her on the nose as I always did, her face was wet, and getting wetter.

She kept saying she was sorry, and I rested my chin on her shoulder as she knelt down on the floor, crying, a lot. I had no idea why she was sorry, or why she was so sad at the time, but that day I found out that I wasn't going to be growing up with my best friend any more, the little girl who would've been my partner in crime had died in mum's tummy before I got to meet her, her name was Sam.

It was very sad, but I knew from that day on I had a new special reason to be where I was, it was to try and help my mum get through each day and learn to smile again. It took a very long time. Every day I kissed her on the nose, and grinned at her with my wonky teeth over my stable door. I went walking with her everywhere, we even went paddling in the sea. I sometimes went out with her even when she was riding my big friends, trotting alongside to keep up. I posed for photos with mum, mum likes taking photos, hundreds of them. Sometimes she would come into the stable and just sit in the corner with a wet face. Sometimes she would come and sit in the field and look up at the sky. No matter what she did I was there to rest my chin on her, kiss her on the nose, chew her hair, or just stand by her side until she was ready to take the next step. My mum even wrote a book about me, in memory of my partner in crime, called A Cookie for Christmas, so Sam would know how much we all loved her, and that we would never forget her.

So I've decided this Christmas, I am going to walk 100 miles over 20 days (well I only have little legs!). I will be walking between the 4th December and Christmas Eve in Flintshire and Denbighshire, for Our Sam. Our Sam is the charity set up by my mum, in memory of my Sam, the best friend I was never able to meet. I want to do this so I can help other mums and dads like mine who have lost their babies in pregnancy or shortly after birth find the help they need, when they need it most. All the money I raise will support Our Sam's SOS Baby Loss, a new online signposting resource available from January, to help mums and dads find the proper help they need, whenever, wherever, and however they need it. Not everyone has a Cookie, like me, to kiss them on the nose, or take them walking when they are feeling sad. If you'd like to find out more about Our Sam, see the blogs, podcasts, learn about all the exciting things Our Sam does including Our Stars Choir you can go to oursam.org.uk

This time my mum will be walking by my side to help me do this. You will be able to spot me, I will be the one jingling along in my new elf coat! Some days I will be walking in the quiet country lanes close to where I live, some days I will be walking round the local villages, and some days I am going to go and see more people in my local towns like Mold and Ruthin. My mum will keep you updated on where I will be. We won't be collecting money on the way to keep people safe from that horrid human virus, but please come and say hello and my Mum will be able to tell you how to donate.

If you can help me raise lots of money to help mums and dads like mine, I would be so grateful.

Wishing everyone a peaceful and happy Christmas with a kiss on the nose from me, and don't forget to leave the carrots out for the reindeers!!

Love

Cookie xxx

P.S. Mum will add lots of pictures and videos on our travels!