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October is Pregnancy & Infant Loss Awareness Month

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2016 Media Kit

October is Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month

In 1988, President Ronald Regan proclaimed October as Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month [Proclamation 5890]. Tragically approximately a million pregnancies yearly in the United States end in early pregnancy loss, stillbirth, or the death of the newborn child.

In October, Share Pregnancy and Infant Loss Support will host several events to honor and remember all of the sweet babies that have gone far too soon. Grandparents Event, Share Español Memorial Ceremony, Wave of Light Remembrance Service, and the annual Share Walk for Remembrance & Hope in St. Louis, MO, along with several chapter walks across the nation.

The loss of a child stays with parents, friends, and family members forever, but it can be challenging for others to truly understand the emotional and physical impact. Events across the country take place each October and help people to better empathize and support parents on their journey to hope.

Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month enables us to consider how, as individuals and communities, we can meet the needs of bereaved parents and family members and work to prevent causes of these problems.

One in Four Pregnancies Ends In a Loss Early Pregnancy Loss. Stillbirth. Infant Loss. Sadly, these are deeply painful experiences that many families face daily, but they receive little attention. It may be hard to talk about, but the more open we are, the better we can serve bereaved parents.

Early pregnancy loss is the most common type of loss. According to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), studies reveal that anywhere from 10-25% of all clinically recognized pregnancies will end in early pregnancy loss. When fetal death occurs after 20 weeks of pregnancy, it is called stillbirth. These tragic deaths occur in about 1 in 160 pregnancies.

Millions of mothers and fathers do not know where to turn for grieving support after losing a child. Bereaved families long for ways to honor their deceased babies and October is nationally-recognized as Pregnancy & Infant Loss Awareness Month.

While child loss may be a more common occurrence than people think, there are still far too many families that face the devastating moments alone, desperate for support before, during or after the loss of a baby. Who is there to help? Who is there to offer support?

402 Jackson Street, St. Charles, MO 63301 • www.nationalshare.org • 636-947-6164

Our MissionShare Pregnancy & Infant Loss Support is a national nonprofit organization that serves those whose lives are touched by the tragic death of a baby through pregnancy loss, stillbirth or in the first few months of life.

Share serves more than 20,000 grieving families around the world each year. The national Share staff provides free bereavement resources and materials to every individual in need.

Our Services Include1) First Response Share is the first point of contact for those experiencing pregnancy or infant loss. We receive 10,800 phone calls for support and referrals annually.

2) Printed Resources Share distributes more than 5,000 free informational packets and brochures yearly and a bi-monthly Sharing Magazine, to bereaved parents around the world.

3) Hospital/Community Partnerships Share provides partnering hospitals with grief resource packets in mother/baby units, emergency rooms, physicians offices, clinics, and community organizations.

4) Nationwide ShareShare partners with hospitals and other organizations nationwide to establish perinatal bereavement programs in their communities, known as Share Chapters. There are currently more than 75 Share Chapters in the United States.

5) Support Groups Share serves approximately 20,000 individuals a year through support group programs dedicated to setting the standard of care for the perinatal bereavement programs.

6) Online Resources/Social Media GroupsShare maintains an interactive website that generates more than 1,400 visits a week and which provides a newsletter, blog, and private Facebook support groups on various grief and loss issues. Share currently offers three Facebook pages for online support, including Share Bereaved Families Peer Support, Share Espanol: Esperanza, and Share Subsequent Pregnancy Peer Support.

7) Share Español: Esperanza Share Español: Esperanza was established to serve Spanish-speaking families along their grief journey after the loss of a baby through pregnancy loss, stillbirth, or neonatal death.

8) Training & EducationShare provides comprehensive perinatal bereavement care training for caregivers, healthcare professionals, bereaved families, Share Chapter leaders, and other caregivers.

Anyone can support Share by donating via the website at www.nationalshare.org, by volunteering their time at events, and by offering Share’s services to friends or family members who have suffered a loss.

Share Social MediaFacebook: http://facebook.com/112835372099879Twitter: @Share1977

Press ContactDebra Cochran, BSN, MA, Executive Director

[email protected]

http://facebook.com/112835372099879https://twitter.com/Share1977


National Share Office Events In Honor of October Awareness

The National Share Office is headquartered in the St. Louis, Missouri area. As the National Share Office hosts events throughout the year for our families, we focus on October events as we raise awareness for Pregnancy & Infant Loss Awareness Month. Below is a list of events for the National Share Office. All media is invited and encouraged to attend any event to honor and remember our babies. Media contacts can reach Debbie Cochran, [email protected]. See the following page for Walks & Events Across the Nation. #LetsTalkAboutLoss

Bereaved Grandparents Event September 14, 2016; 10AM – NoonIn honor of Grandparents Day, the National Share Office will recognize Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month with all bereaved grandparents. This event will bring bereaved grandparents together to support one another as they grieve the loss of their grandchild(ren), and also provide support to their own child in grief. St. John’s United Church of Christ, St. Charles, MO. http://nationalshare.org/?event=bereaved-grandparents-event

#ShareforShare Online Campaign #ShareforShare is an online campaign to raise awareness for pregnancy loss and the services, support, and resources Share offers free of charge. To raise awareness, we are asking that you “Share” or “Like” our daily #ShareforShare posts throughout October. Together, our voice will be heard.

National Share Walk for Remembrance & Hope - #ShareWalk2016 October 15, 2016; 10AM The National Share Walk for Remembrance & Hope is the largest Share Walk in the nation. Over 3,500 bereaved families, friends, and caregivers come together to honor and remember their baby(ies). The thousands of attendees will wear the Share t-shirt printed with all of the babies’ names. Over 500 babies’ names are read aloud during the ceremony, followed by the Walk for Remembrance and Hope. This annual event is held at Frontier Park in St. Charles, Missouri. http://nationalshare.org/share-walk-2016/

Wave of Light Ceremony- Virtual Event (#WOL2016)October 15, 2016; 7PM October 15 is Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day. The Wave of Light is a virtual event beginning at 7PM in all time zones. Participate with thousands of bereaved families over the world by posting your photos and/or videos to social media using #WOL2016, as we create the worldwide wave of light.

Awareness and Access to Perinatal Bereavement Training October 24 - 26, 2016 The National Share Office is hosting our Awareness and Access to Perinatal Bereavement training in St. Louis, Missouri. The training is presented free of charge thanks to funding from the Missouri Foundation for Health in honor of Pregnancy & Infant Loss Awareness Month. The training will be held at the Nurses for Newborns office at 7259 Lansdowne Ave #100, St. Louis, MO 63119. Register at: http://nationalshare.org/granttraining/

http://nationalshare.org/?event=bereaved-grandparents-eventhttp://nationalshare.org/share-walk-2016/http://nationalshare.org/granttraining/

Salt Lake City, UT - Share of Utah Saturday, October 1, 201621st Annual Walk for Remembrance and HopeRegistration begins at 1:00 PM; Program begins at 1:30 PMhttp://www.shareparentsofutah.org/p/blog-page_4983.htmlInternational Peace Gardens1060 Dalton Ave S, Salt Lake City, UT 84104

Lancaster, PA - Share of LancasterOctober 1, 201611AM at Greenfield Corporate CenterRegistration is free and all are encouraged to attendhttp://shareoflancaster.org/walk-to-remember/

Mifflinburg, PAOctober 1, 2016Mifflinburg Community ParkRegistration begins at 9amFor more information contact Sharon Hixson at [email protected] or Susan Payne at [email protected]

Walks & Events Across the Nation


Albuquerque, NMOctober 15, 20165pm Walk, 7pm Candle Lighting CeremonyTiguex Park, 1800 Mountain Rd. NWFor more information contact Christy Koil at [email protected]

Colleyville, TXOctober 15, 20162-4pm, Mc Pherson Park-Red Pavilion 240 West McDonwell School RoadPlease RSVP to Angela Niestemski at 817-329-4052 or [email protected] by September 23 to have your baby’s name on the t-shirt

Decatur, ILOctober 15, 2016Nelson Park, details TBD, contact Karla Thornton at [email protected]

Woodinville, WAOctober 15, 2016Wine Tasting & Wave of Light EventBasel Cellars, Woodinville, WA

http://www.shareparentsofutah.org/p/blog-page_4983.htmlhttp://www.shareparentsofutah.org/p/blog-page_4983.html


Why October is Important to Me... Message of Hope from a Bereaved ParentShare’s Board Member, Derek Haake, shares his heartfelt story of why October’s Pregancy & Infant Loss Awareness Month is now so important to him.

The night we delivered our triplets 6 weeks premature because my son was stillborn, I sat in the house, by myself because we had no family within 400 miles of us, and no one to take care of our dogs that night, so I had to take care of them while my wife was in the hospital. I had stayed at the hospital with my wife, I had held one of our daughters, the one that was not on life support, and I went home, not really knowing what I could do. I had talked to my parents, my brother, but now I just sat alone, the blessing of my two surviving daughters, even in their seemingly fragile condition nullified my emotions. I sat, by myself in the cool September night simply lost. After a while I decided to look at social media, and while I had not posted anything, friends had expressed condolences – the news had gone viral. One post changed me forever though. A very good friend from college, one that I had lost touch with over the years posted a link and a website on my Facebook page. It simply said that it is time to stop the silence, time to bring infant and pregnancy loss into the open, and that the topic was taboo in our society – and it needed to stop.

I was taken aback at this. I thought to myself, why. Why would we not talk about a loss? Why would we treat this topic as taboo? Why would we want to hide this? Why should we as a bereaved parent be shunned into silence? Slowly the answers to my questions began to trickle in. As I got indoctrinated into one of the most horrible clubs you can belong to – if not the worst – I got the answers to these questions that I never wanted to know. I immediately lost a handful of friends. To this day I will never

know why, but simply some people never talked to me again or even returned my calls after hearing the news. I do not know if it was too painful, if our friendship was not real. My best friend from high school told me that it will “be less work”. His attempt at finding some form of support for me hurt so much that I couldn’t even talk to him for six months – not that I was mad, it was the pain he inadvertently caused. My father, within a couple of weeks after losing my son told me to “snap out of it”, “it’s not like you knew him”, and similar things basically saying that he did not matter, and that hurt me in an incomprehensible way. He did not mean to hurt me, he saw me floundering in grief, he was worried about me – he did not want me to hurt and be in pain, but it was the wrong thing to say. I wrote him a letter, because I couldn’t talk to him, enclosed a picture of my son, and told him that yes, my son did matter, and that I would never talk to him about my son again, and for almost six years, I have remained true to my word.

I quickly began to drown. My girls were still in the NICU and my wife was a wreck when she wasn’t caring for them. I needed to be a pillar of strength for her, but I had no support system for myself. I had returned to school and was working on my MBA. My friends from school did not understand, my professors punished me because of the loss and my inability to sit for two and a half hours without losing my emotional control. In short, the topic was taboo, I could not talk, and if I did, no one would listen.

I quietly and slowly reached outside of my network to find the support that I needed to survive. My first introduction was with a group in St. Louis called Share. Share gave me some brief information, and put me in contact with another father who at the time was writing a book about loss for fathers. He told me in a lengthy conversation one night of

what was going to happen. Chronic stiffness had already begun to grip my neck, and he told me the pain would worsen, that this was just the beginning. The emotions were going to grip my body, it would cause me long lasting physical pain, and the anxiety would overwhelm me. He told me I was going to think I was going to die, and that the grief would consume my being, unless I fought through it. He was completely right.

The pain in my heart, my mind and my body slowly manifested itself and grew in intensity over the next few months, but gradually left my body over the next two years. The frequency and intensity of the pain in my mind and heart subsided, but the dull, nagging pain, while infrequent now, still exists almost six years later. The subsidence of the pain was a sad process as well, as I realized that my son no longer had the effect he once had on me, his memory was fading, and his existence began to lose meaning for myself. This was a sickening realization for me, the biggest fear for any bereaved parent is that their child would not have any meaning to anyone, and this became my reality. To continue reading Derek’s touching and powerful story of hope, please visit: http://nationalshare.org/why-is-pregnancy-infant-loss-awareness-month-so-important-to-me/

http://nationalshare.org/why-is-pregnancy-infant-loss-awareness-month-so-important-to-me/http://nationalshare.org/why-is-pregnancy-infant-loss-awareness-month-so-important-to-me/http://nationalshare.org/why-is-pregnancy-infant-loss-awareness-month-so-important-to-me/

This article was written by Justine Brooks Froelker on her experience at the Share Walk through the eyes of a bereaved parent.

I had no idea what to expect at my first Share Walk of Remembrance. I knew I could expect shame, compari-son and scarcity to show up for me. I am often confronted with my dark roommates even amongst my own tribe of longing mothers.

But, I’ve never been pregnant.

They were only embryos.

Does my loss even count?

To which I know by now, through doing the hard and amazing work of wholehearted living, that loss is loss. That my babies count too and that we are all in this together.

What I did not expect to feel so much of at my first walk was joy. The joy of a day to remember our babies. The joy of a day to be together. The joy of being surrounded by people who just get it.

A forever longing joy.

Yet still a joy.

I will honor my three every year amongst the tribe no one wants to belong to and yet one that we are all so thankful for.

My tribe of longing and joy.

This is what I posted on my blog, www.everupward.org last year after

the walk. It embodies still, exactly what I felt that day and now a year later.

A SPOKEN SEA OF NAME

Another name.

A voice both full of love and sorrow all in the same breath speaks another name into the microphone over the crowd of people awash in a sea of orange.

Another name.

Over 500 names.

Over 500 souls lost too soon.

Over 500 names, never spoken out loud enough, put into the crisp, sun-filled fall day along the river.

And with each name another wave.

A wave of grief. A wave of smiles. A wave of sadness. A wave of love; all washing over me with my senses too overwhelmed to really take it all in.

A wave of orange.

With each name a wave of orange balloons both escape and release from the hands of a forever changed family.At times it is a tiny wave of a only a few balloons, others a multitude of them.

Floating high into the blue sky, some with messages for their babies in

heaven.

Tears. Smiles. Tears. Laughter.

Love. Honor.

The honor of loving them co-existing with our grief of losing them beyond too soon washing over us like the waves in the sea.

The sea of spoken names in waves of orange taking my breath away still.

A Tribe of Forever Longing Joy: The Share Walk Through My Eyes

Share Chapters.... over 75 chapters nationwide


PRESS CONTACTDebra Cochran, BSN, MA

Executive DirectorShare Pregnancy & Infant Loss Support, Inc.

402 Jackson Street, St. Charles, MO 63301636-947-6164 | [email protected]

There are currently over 75 Share Chapters throughout the United States that offer local support, group meetings, events and an extension of the National Share Office. For additional information on the Chapters or starting your own, please visit http://nationalshare.org/share-chapter/

Share PSA: Help Us Spread Awareness

Please feel free to use this Public Service Announcement within your PSA rotation. We would be grateful and appreciative for your support in raising awareness for those suffering the loss of a baby.

For the actual video file, please email Debbie: [email protected]

Click here to listen!
http://nationalshare.org/share-chapter/

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