SIDS: Teddy Bears to the Rescue

As SIDS Steals the Love from Another Family

No one expects their child to die before them especially when they are so small and precious. Unfortunately life does throw us a curve ball, such as SIDS. SIDS is the sudden death of an infant under one year of age which remains unexplained after a thorough case investigation, including performance of a complete autopsy, examination of the death scene, and review of the clinical history. 

In a typical situation of SIDS parents go to check on their supposedly sleeping infant, only to find him or her dead in their beds. This is the worse tragedy parents can face, a tragedy which leaves them a feeling of vulnerability that lasts throughout their lives. Since medicine can not tell them why their baby died, they blame themselves and often other innocent people. Their lives and those around them are changed forever. 

Not for Julie Lowe though. She was given strength by God on a cool September day when she was told that her baby nephew had passed away. He was taken by SIDS but rose to heaven on a white cloud to be with Jesus. She felt that God was leading her to begin a project; one that parent’s of SID victims will never forget. Now she collects teddy bears of all color, shapes and sizes and she delivers them to the local hospital, Catawba Valley Medical Center in Hickory to be donated to the parents and children in the ER. These bears are also for the parents to take home and keep in memory of the little precious one’s when they pass away. 

“Each time I donate I walk back out through the doors of the hospital and I hate to say this, but I am sad. I am sad because every bear collected is another infant gone, another family mourning, and another baby who knew no sin. But then I realize that this is the very reason I am donating these teddy bears; to help them start the healing process,” says Julie. “Sometimes in the life we are challenged in the worst possible way. We must all use our gifts that God gave us wisely. Even if it is a difficult thing to do, we must remember that God doesn’t put us through anything that we can not handle.”