October marks National Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month, a time to acknowledge the experience of those who have lost a child during or after pregnancy and honor their children’s beautiful lives. While their grief can never be confined to one month, commemorating the loss provides a dedicated time to pause and provide compassion and solidarity. Recognizing this month also creates a space to spread awareness for the importance of bereavement support for those experiencing pregnancy or infant loss.

“Thank you for providing this moment of reflection. It is incredibly powerful and meaningful to us and the families we care for.“

In 2019 bereaved mom Stephanie Soderberg established Will’s Wings Foundation (WWF) to honor her son, William Patrick. The primary goal of this foundation is to provide hope, healing, and help to other families. No parent should have to go through their journey alone and without adequate support. In partnership with Nationwide Children’s Hospital, WWF is supporting the enhancement of the bereavement program dedicated to families at Nationwide Children’s. Supporting all families that have experienced loss is WWF’s priority. Through WWF and Nationwide Children’s, Stephanie wants to focus on ensuring that all families in Central Ohio who experience pregnancy or infant loss have opportunities to receive memory-making items, mementos honoring their child, and access to bereavement support.

“My hope in partnering with NCH, the largest pediatric hospital in the area, is to provide one set standard of care for every family going through a painful loss,” Stephanie says, “I want to give back the amazing support that I received while going through my own healing.”

Symbolic objects create a special connection to a lost child that is ongoing and tangible. Contributions to NCH by WWF are already helping to ensure that families experiencing loss receive memorial keepsakes such as handprints, footprints, and lockets, as well as bereavement literature, blankets, and infant burial clothing. In the future, WWF plans to collaborate with local funeral homes to provide free or reduced funeral costs to take pressure off families in need of financial support.

“We want to validate grief, support their journey, and ensure every lost child’s presence is known and felt…hospitals can be a place of pain but also in time, a place of healing,” Stephanie says.

On October 26th, Nationwide Children’s will commemorate Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness month. Thanks to the support of Will’s Wings, decorative pinwheels in pink and blue—the colors signifying Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness—will be displayed on the lawn at the hospital’s main entrance in remembrance of every child lost during pregnancy or infancy. Sometimes, there are no words that can offer comfort; time and acts of kindness allow families to move forward.

“After a somewhat taxing shift, this was for sure a sign that my little angels are with me today. This display is only today until tomorrow and the pinwheels were just spinning on my way out of work. I can feel my angels with me.”

For information about Will’s Wings Foundation and Nationwide Children’s Bereavement Support Services, please email pastoralcareinfo@nationwidechildrens.org.