Cheryl Haggard
06-06-2006, 11:52 AM
Cheryl, I don’t know if you even listen to country music, but the local radio station KYGO has a Big Thank You program to read thank yous on the radio, so I sent in this thank you. It was read on Wednesday, May 31 at 6:30 am, but I didn’t hear it. I just wanted to share it with you.
Sheila Key
Dear Jonathan,
I hope you are able to read this thank you on the air so other families can experience the thoughtfulness of this organization as we did during our loss.
My Big Thank You is two-fold.
My husband and I lost a baby girl last June after a very short 27 hours of life. Baby Cheyenne had Trisomy 18, a chromosomal abnormality with 3 #18 chromosomes. The diagnosis caused her little organs to not develop correctly. We knew about the diagnosis 4 months into the pregnancy and decided to put her life in God’s hands and carry her as long as God allowed. Anyway, it has been a very difficult year made easier only by the portraits provided by a non-profit organization by the name of “Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep”.
This organization has been around about 1 year now. My husband heard about this organization on a news program just after we found out about Cheyenne’s diagnosis. We talked about having the portraits done then, but really forgot about it in the next few months until we were at the hospital June 22 to deliver. The very talented co-founder and photographer, Sandy Puc’ and Cheryl Haggard the “mommy” co-founder with staff, Eryn and Chantel came to my hospital room at 9pm June 23, to spend an unforgettable session with us posing around our Baby Cheyenne who had passed away 4 hours earlier.
We will forever be grateful to these ladies and to this organization for being so compassionate and providing us such beautiful mementos of our family. This organization has built websites for “Our Babies” (portraits of all babies they have photographed), which show the portraits set to music as well as poems etc. to share with friends and family members.
I can’t explain how these portraits help in the healing process by providing us a true family portrait that we wouldn’t have had if this organization didn’t exist. We wish that all families experiencing this type of loss would be able to have this experience and obtain such a treasured gift.
Here is a link to Cheyenne Rene Key’s portraits artfully set to music (Butterfly Kisses). I hope you can watch it. It is truly amazing.
http://nowilaymedowntosleep.org/index.cfm?PAGE_ID=43 (http://nowilaymedowntosleep.org/index.cfm?PAGE_ID=43)
The second part to this big thank you is to Kenny Chesney for recording the song, “Who You’d Be Someday.” We travel to the western slope a lot on the weekends and I had been having the same thoughts as mentioned in this song for a little while. Driving home one Sunday afternoon with tearful eyes I was staring up into the clouds wondering what Cheyenne would be doing in heaven and what she would be like. Kenny’s song came on the radio and I listened in awe to the same thoughts I had just been thinking. I don’t know how anyone who hadn’t experienced this loss could ever come up with those exact feelings. Each time I hear it I listen to the words and ache, but endear them. If you ever speak to Kenny, thank him for me.
Who knows, maybe some day Kenny will perform a benefit for Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep and I can tell him personally how this song amazed me with my own feelings.
Thank you for this opportunity to give thanks where thanks is due,
Very truly yours,
Mommy (Sheila Key)
Sheila Key
Dear Jonathan,
I hope you are able to read this thank you on the air so other families can experience the thoughtfulness of this organization as we did during our loss.
My Big Thank You is two-fold.
My husband and I lost a baby girl last June after a very short 27 hours of life. Baby Cheyenne had Trisomy 18, a chromosomal abnormality with 3 #18 chromosomes. The diagnosis caused her little organs to not develop correctly. We knew about the diagnosis 4 months into the pregnancy and decided to put her life in God’s hands and carry her as long as God allowed. Anyway, it has been a very difficult year made easier only by the portraits provided by a non-profit organization by the name of “Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep”.
This organization has been around about 1 year now. My husband heard about this organization on a news program just after we found out about Cheyenne’s diagnosis. We talked about having the portraits done then, but really forgot about it in the next few months until we were at the hospital June 22 to deliver. The very talented co-founder and photographer, Sandy Puc’ and Cheryl Haggard the “mommy” co-founder with staff, Eryn and Chantel came to my hospital room at 9pm June 23, to spend an unforgettable session with us posing around our Baby Cheyenne who had passed away 4 hours earlier.
We will forever be grateful to these ladies and to this organization for being so compassionate and providing us such beautiful mementos of our family. This organization has built websites for “Our Babies” (portraits of all babies they have photographed), which show the portraits set to music as well as poems etc. to share with friends and family members.
I can’t explain how these portraits help in the healing process by providing us a true family portrait that we wouldn’t have had if this organization didn’t exist. We wish that all families experiencing this type of loss would be able to have this experience and obtain such a treasured gift.
Here is a link to Cheyenne Rene Key’s portraits artfully set to music (Butterfly Kisses). I hope you can watch it. It is truly amazing.
http://nowilaymedowntosleep.org/index.cfm?PAGE_ID=43 (http://nowilaymedowntosleep.org/index.cfm?PAGE_ID=43)
The second part to this big thank you is to Kenny Chesney for recording the song, “Who You’d Be Someday.” We travel to the western slope a lot on the weekends and I had been having the same thoughts as mentioned in this song for a little while. Driving home one Sunday afternoon with tearful eyes I was staring up into the clouds wondering what Cheyenne would be doing in heaven and what she would be like. Kenny’s song came on the radio and I listened in awe to the same thoughts I had just been thinking. I don’t know how anyone who hadn’t experienced this loss could ever come up with those exact feelings. Each time I hear it I listen to the words and ache, but endear them. If you ever speak to Kenny, thank him for me.
Who knows, maybe some day Kenny will perform a benefit for Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep and I can tell him personally how this song amazed me with my own feelings.
Thank you for this opportunity to give thanks where thanks is due,
Very truly yours,
Mommy (Sheila Key)