In just three years, Sarah Martin has lost two babies at birth, suffered two miscarriages, saw her sister succumb to cancer and was involved in the Sheppey Crossing crash. Yet, as she told reporter Poppy Jeffery, she has not lost hope and wants to help others.

On May 25, Sarah Martin and Dan Townshend’s lives were turned upside down with the death of their two-day-old baby Poppy Hannah.

Medical staff at Medway Maritime Hospital’s Oliver Fisher Special Care Baby Unit had done their best.

But the tot had been born at just 25 weeks and had severe medical problems.

Former Elliott Park pupil Sarah has spoken of her latest heartache in the hope it will spur people to donate money to the unit.

Her pregnancy was continuing as normal until May 23.

She said: “I was woken up by pain, and went to the toilet and saw blood.”

Realising she was in labour, she headed to Medway.

“I arrived at the triage room and lots of doctors ran in. I suddenly went from being a 30-year-old to a scared child again.”

Soon after an emergency caesarian, nurses came over and told her the baby was okay.

“Hearing that, I was just shocked and dumbfounded I finally had a daughter,” she said.

In 2013, Sarah and Dan had lost their first child, Frances, to a heart defect at about 24 weeks into the pregnancy.

The card shop manager had also suffered two miscarriages and had been nervous to tell her family when she fell pregnant again this time.

After Poppy was born, fiancé Dan stayed with her until Sarah was able to meet her child she’d longed for.

She said: “I was so relieved to see her moving and breathing, I was in awe of her straight away and I burst out crying.

“I just looked at this tiny helpless baby who had tubes coming out of her and it was horrible.

“All I wanted was to be able to pick her up.

“The pain, physically and emotionally, seeing her like that was horrific; until then I never knew what my mum meant by wishing she could swap places with me, and wishing she could take the pain away.”

In the early morning, Sarah was woken by a nurse.

“They asked me if I wanted to get my daughter blessed or Christened, and I knew something was wrong.”

Poppy’s vitals had plummeted and all efforts were being made by staff to help her.

The tot was stabilised, but only a few hours later, Sarah was called urgently to see her child.

“The adrenaline numbed my body. I just ran to my baby and looked at the monitors and saw incredibly low numbers.”

She had to make a quick decision and said to staff: “Take it all out, take all of the tubes out, I want to see her face and hold her.”

A young nurse rushed to help and handed her the tiny child.

“About 30 seconds after they took it all out, she breathed her last breath.”

“Dan was there for her first breath and I was there for her last.”

Dan, 28, along with her supportive parents, Martha and Barry, and her four siblings provided essential support.

She plans to get married soon and hopes her future is brighter.

She added: “I believe life throws bad things at strong people as we can handle it, it gets worse before it gets better.”

The Invicta Road resident is now fundraising for the Oliver Fisher unit, saying: “They have been totally and utterly amazing to me.

“They worked around me and supported me and my whole family, it became a home from home.

“I want to help someone else’s baby survive when mine didn’t.”

She’d originally hoped to raise £200, but at the time of writing, she’d had £1,235 pledged online.

If you’d like to donate, visit crowdfunding.justgiving.com/sarah-martin-4

In February last year, Sarah lost her sister Hannah to cancer.

The 25-year-old was diagnosed with Denys-Drash Syndrome, which left her without working kidneys, aged just three.

“I believe life throws bad things at strong people as we can handle it, it gets worse before it gets better" - Sarah Martin

After battling illness all her life and having three transplants, she died after a battle with liver cancer.

“Doctors told her she wouldn’t live past 16 and she outlived everyone’s expectations, she defied the odds.”

The death of her sister was made even worse by a coincidence for Sarah.

She said: “On the same day I lost my sister, I also found out I’d lost my baby to a miscarriage.”

Sarah was on her way to work at Betfred in Sittingbourne High Street when she was involved in the Sheppey Crossing crash in September 2013.

It was her second day back at work after losing her first baby.

She had to be cut out of her Peugeot, which had been caught up in the accident at the highest point of the bridge.

She said: “It was horrific, it was at the time, the worst experience of my life.

“My family thought I was dead because they were ringing me and I wasn’t answering.

“I was the worst injured person, I had a double fractured pelvis, fractured eight ribs, two fractured vertebra in the lower spine and I have a lovely Harry Potter scar on my head.

“I was bad, I was in King’s College Hospital for three weeks and then was house-bound for six months as I had to learn to walk again.”