Cheryl Haggard
07-12-2007, 12:20 AM
Dear Cheryl,
In 2005 I lost daughter born at 25 weeks. She lived for 2 weeks. Thankfully, we were able to get many photos of her while she was alive. However, the photos of her in her bereavement gown weren't the greatest. Since losing her and joining the circle of bereaved parents, I have read numerous articles and testimonials of NILMDTS. I have recently formed a non-profit and include your brochures with each donation of bereavement gowns.
Anyway, why I'm writing is because I'd like to share an portion of an email I recently received from my friend. This is another example of how the volunteers have helped families in ways that are difficult to describe. Unfortunately, since all of this is from a friend of a friend I don't have names to send a direct thank you. However, I feel like it has already been done, but wanted to make sure you were thanked also.
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Dear Candy,
I need to share this with you because I wanted to let you know what a HUGE impact you have had on somebody that you don't even know. You may remember a while back that I posted about very good friend of mine, Amy, who had a friend that was pregnant and the baby would not survive when it was born. The baby had a condition called Hydrops (I think?). Amy was desperate to reach out to her friend to help her in any way she could because she knew the pain of losing a child because her first set of twins were born too early. One of the things you recommended was the Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep photographs. I got in touch with Amy about it and she took it upon herself to make sure that this was done when it was time. Once her friend was farther along in the pregnancy (and it was very real to her then), the friend was very receptive to the idea of the photographs and wanted to do it. Well, the time had come to induce her because it was now becoming dangerous to her to remain pregnant (she was over 30 weeks). Amy had already called many of the NILMDTS photographers in the area and all of them were so accommodating (way above and beyond the call of duty) and wanting to help. The induction day was yesterday and so Amy had the photographers all on call. They were all willing to be on call for different times of the day to immediately drop what they were doing to do this for this family. And they were all from different studios in the area, too. At 9pm last night she was 9cm dilated and ready to push. A photographer dropped what she was doing (she has 4 kids of her own) and immediately went up to the hospital. The baby wasn't born until 1am and the parents wanted to be with their daughter alone until the end. The photographer was willing to wait as long as necessary. When it was time, the photographer went in and did what she needed to do and quickly left.
I spoke to Amy today to see how they were all doing and she was in tears telling me how special these pictures were and how much they meant to her friend. Since Amy had arranged the whole thing, she spoke with the photographer today and was told that the shots were absolutely stunning and that it was made to appear that the baby was in a very peaceful sleep and was just beautiful. She said that there was one shot in particular that had the baby's hand on her mother's and that it appeared as though the baby was holding her mother's hand. The shot was in black and white and the photographer blew it up and had it framed for them. Amy said that the whole experience was very peaceful and beautiful for the parents and that they will forever be grateful for being given this information to have this done. These photographers do this for absolutely no charge. What a special bunch of people they are to do this for grieving families.
Amy wanted to make sure that I passed along to you how thankful they are to have been given this information because it is something that just isn't common knowledge. So...THANK YOU!!!
Kristine
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Cheryl, thanks again for this incredible gift that you and your group of volunteers provide!!
Candy Stacks
http://www.emmazinggracefoundation.org (http://www.emmazinggracefoundation.org/)
In 2005 I lost daughter born at 25 weeks. She lived for 2 weeks. Thankfully, we were able to get many photos of her while she was alive. However, the photos of her in her bereavement gown weren't the greatest. Since losing her and joining the circle of bereaved parents, I have read numerous articles and testimonials of NILMDTS. I have recently formed a non-profit and include your brochures with each donation of bereavement gowns.
Anyway, why I'm writing is because I'd like to share an portion of an email I recently received from my friend. This is another example of how the volunteers have helped families in ways that are difficult to describe. Unfortunately, since all of this is from a friend of a friend I don't have names to send a direct thank you. However, I feel like it has already been done, but wanted to make sure you were thanked also.
----------------
Dear Candy,
I need to share this with you because I wanted to let you know what a HUGE impact you have had on somebody that you don't even know. You may remember a while back that I posted about very good friend of mine, Amy, who had a friend that was pregnant and the baby would not survive when it was born. The baby had a condition called Hydrops (I think?). Amy was desperate to reach out to her friend to help her in any way she could because she knew the pain of losing a child because her first set of twins were born too early. One of the things you recommended was the Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep photographs. I got in touch with Amy about it and she took it upon herself to make sure that this was done when it was time. Once her friend was farther along in the pregnancy (and it was very real to her then), the friend was very receptive to the idea of the photographs and wanted to do it. Well, the time had come to induce her because it was now becoming dangerous to her to remain pregnant (she was over 30 weeks). Amy had already called many of the NILMDTS photographers in the area and all of them were so accommodating (way above and beyond the call of duty) and wanting to help. The induction day was yesterday and so Amy had the photographers all on call. They were all willing to be on call for different times of the day to immediately drop what they were doing to do this for this family. And they were all from different studios in the area, too. At 9pm last night she was 9cm dilated and ready to push. A photographer dropped what she was doing (she has 4 kids of her own) and immediately went up to the hospital. The baby wasn't born until 1am and the parents wanted to be with their daughter alone until the end. The photographer was willing to wait as long as necessary. When it was time, the photographer went in and did what she needed to do and quickly left.
I spoke to Amy today to see how they were all doing and she was in tears telling me how special these pictures were and how much they meant to her friend. Since Amy had arranged the whole thing, she spoke with the photographer today and was told that the shots were absolutely stunning and that it was made to appear that the baby was in a very peaceful sleep and was just beautiful. She said that there was one shot in particular that had the baby's hand on her mother's and that it appeared as though the baby was holding her mother's hand. The shot was in black and white and the photographer blew it up and had it framed for them. Amy said that the whole experience was very peaceful and beautiful for the parents and that they will forever be grateful for being given this information to have this done. These photographers do this for absolutely no charge. What a special bunch of people they are to do this for grieving families.
Amy wanted to make sure that I passed along to you how thankful they are to have been given this information because it is something that just isn't common knowledge. So...THANK YOU!!!
Kristine
--------------
Cheryl, thanks again for this incredible gift that you and your group of volunteers provide!!
Candy Stacks
http://www.emmazinggracefoundation.org (http://www.emmazinggracefoundation.org/)