A very special cause!

So recently I was approched by a local charity to help promote their upcoming gala to raise funds for their cause. The cause itself is something that even if we have not experienced it we all can empathize as moms. The charity is called Precious Moments and the cause is to raise awareness of SUDI, SIDS and other infant loss. As well as raise funds for Sick Kids Hospital. Ashlie Baker who is the heart and soul behind this has agree dto share her story with us and I welcome her as a guest blogger. My name is Ashlie Baker. In Squamish B.C on March 18th 2010 at 11:58pm I gave birth to my 1st child Owen Lucas Metcalf. As fast as he came into my life he was taken away. For my entire pregnancy I was told I was healthy, and the baby was doing well. After a rough delivery my son finally came into the world. He peed on me and smiled. Then he was taken away for examination that revealed he needed help breathing. I thought that was routine until I saw them doing chest compressions, and then 1 Dr after another came in to assist him. Owens heart had failed and he went into cardiac arrest. After 2.5 hrs and a pediatric specialist team working on him Owen passed away right in front of myself and boyfriend. I was beside myself. The only time my boyfriend got to hold his son was after he died. It was not fair. Everything happened so fast. The delivery team suggested that we have an autopsy done to figure out why our son died so suddenly and unexpectedly. We agreed. I was discharged about 6 hours after all of this happened. I was trying to understand what just happened. I carried my son for 40 weeks and 4 days , I held him for 3 minutes and then he was gone. I found myself wondering " Did I have a child?". After this happened my boyfriend and I moved back to Ontario. The drive across Canada gave us a lot of time to discuss what happened and where we would go from here. After we were settled in Guelph I created a non profit organization called Precious Memories. The reason I created it was because the autopsy results came back with the cause of death as SUDI-sudden unexpected death in infancy, I had never heard of it before. I decided to work with SickKids hospital and create an event that would raise awareness of SUDI, SIDS and other infant loss as well as provide money to help the neonatal division at SickKids. On Friday March 18th at 6pm Precious Memories is hosting a gala at the Guelph Place Banquet Hall. The evening will include a live and silent auction and hors d'oeuvres with live entertainment by the Guelph youth jazz ensemble. Tickets are only $25 each. Please come help bring awareness to SUDI, SIDS and other infant loss and help the neonatal at SickKids. Ticket sales close March 10th.

For more tickets and more information please contact Ashlie Baker 1-226-979-5032 or preciousmemoriesgala@gmail.com