Hogs for Hope - SIDS Awareness Benefit

If you have read my post about my son Rylan then you already know about our mission to stop SIDS or at least raise awareness and support research. If not you can find his story here.

After Rylan died I was contacted by a friend of mine who had a lost her child to SIDS over 40 years ago. I find it so hard to accept that SIDS has been claiming the lives of children for that amount of time or longer and we still have no answers. Although I can not have Rylan back I can make the choice to honor him and do my part in stopping this from claiming the lives of future infants.


SIDS or Sudden Infant Death Syndrome is the death of an apparently healthy infant under the age of one where there is no explanation or cause of death. To me it just sounds completely unreasonable that there would be NO explanation even after a detailed autopsy is completed. There must be some reason for this horrible thing claiming the lives of several thousands of infants each year, devastating thousands of families. Sadly there is not; and quite frankly I want to know what is causing this before a child dies not after. If we can figure that out then we can stop it before it happens. At this time there are no warning signs of SIDS, the first and only symptom is death.That is why hundreds of people gathered on September 15, 2012 at the Hogs for Hope bike run/pig roast in Bellingham, MA

Hogs for Hope was established by Scott and Carolyn Zona, who are 18 years into surviving the death of their son, Coady to SIDS. This year was the 2nd annual Hogs for Hope benefit for SIDS research. Proceeds from the event were donated to the Children's Hospital in Boston, where Dr. Hannah Kinney and a team of researchers are evaluating the possibility that SIDS is caused by a developmental defect in the brain stem compromising respiratory control during sleep. Dr. Kinney and her colleagues are on the verge of pinpointing a cause and  Hogs for Hope is making great strides into supporting this important development.

In order to keep the cost down allowing it possible for more of the proceeds go directly to this cause Scott and Carolyn along with their children made t-shirts. Their teenage daughters volunteered their time face painting. Friends volunteered by cooking and many Businesses and Supporters donated items to be  raffled off. This truly was a community coming together to support a great cause. Let's stop SIDS!

Helpful links:
Hogs for Hope
What is SIDS?
What SIDS is not?
How can you help?
Awareness Bracelets
Support

This post is dedicated to Scott & Carolyn Zona, All the lives taken by SIDS including my own son, Rylan and Dr. Hannah Kinney and her team at Children's Hospital Boston.








1 comment:

  1. Hello my name is Vernetta my sons gave me the name Freedom, I love Harley Davidson and this is how I came up with the name Freedom Harley Davidson which I use on social sites!

    I know the pain that you are feeling I too lost my second son Cory of SIDS many moons ago! I read this page and think it truly is a wonderful thing that you started in your son's name!

    I sent Kid Rock a Book on SIDS on 12-12-12 in which I got from Angel Eyes, The Denver Chapter for SIDS! They sent it to me a long with an application to become one of the Board Of Directors in the Denver SIDS Chapter! I asked for the application but have not filled it out yet and sent it back at this time!

    The reason I have not sent it back yet is because I don't know if I could bear the pain of being the Field Corndinator for Colorado Springs Colorado! I would have to go out to people's houses and give them the book on SIDS, give them my phone number and be on call for them to contact in time of need! I know I can do it but can I bear the pain of another baby dieing from the most silent deadly disease of SIDS!

    I sent Kid Rock a story about how Cory died and sent the only pictures I have when he nursed for the first time and pictures of him when he was in the Premie Ward at the hospital! I also sent him the paper from the funeral and the letter from the Denver Chapter that Cory died of SIDS and it wasn't my fault!

    I asked Kid Rock if he could get other musicians together to put on "BAND-AIDS" For SIDS! I know if we could only convince these wonderful musicians the need for their help the Musicians would be happy to put on charity concerts for such a wonderful cause "To Help Save Our Future Generations" from SIDS! I want this to happen so bad in The Name of My Son Cory and all other babies who have passed!

    I don't want anyone to get the wrong idea it is not the celebration of death but the celebration of LIFE! Do you have any ideas how we can make the dream of celebrating these babies lives become reality?

    Sincerely

    Freedom Harley Davidson

    aka

    Vernetta

    rockangel6969@yahoo.com

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