Jacob's Joy works to provide support to families who lose infants
PORT CLINTON - In 2019, Chelsea Napier, now of Oak Harbor, was living with her husband and oldest daughter in Guam, where her husband was stationed with the military. She just was 26 weeks and six days pregnant when she went into premature labor and had to be flown to Hawaii for treatment. Her daughter, Hazel, was born on April 23. Six days later, Hazel died.
“She got sepsis in NICU and passed away,” Napier said.
Napier and her husband were so traumatized by their daughter’s death that they didn’t plan to have more children. She was not given the post-loss support to process her pain and find her way back to hope.
Then she found out she was expecting a son.
“My son was a surprise. If he wasn’t a surprise, we probably wouldn’t have tried to have children again,” Napier said. “He was born at 27 weeks, so it was terrifying.”
Families face trauma after infant loss
Napier and her family were among the dozens of people who attended the fifth annual Jacob’s Joy Remembrance Walk at Hopfinger Zimmerman Memorial Park in Port Clinton last Saturday. Jacob’s Joy is a nonprofit with a mission to bring support to families who have experienced pregnancy and infant loss and to bring awareness to the trauma those families endure.
Jacob’s Joy was founded by Lauren Gackstetter of Oak Harbor, who lost a son and a daughter to miscarriage.
The Remembrance Walk included a candlelight vigil around the park’s pond and a reading by Joyce Grimm of the names of 103 children who died. A raffle raised funds for care packages that Jacob’s Joy gives to mothers who have experienced loss. The care packages include many comfort items, such as a teddy bear, a book, a homemade candle, a bath bomb, lotion, a bracelet and a hand-crocheted blanket by Lu Biery.
Jacob's Joy provides care packages to mothers who experience loss
“We’ve given away about 75 care packages in the last five years,’ Gackstetter said. “We’ve mailed them all over the U.S., from New York to California. We bring them to St. Charles Hospital, and we’re looking at reaching out to more hospitals.”
The trauma and loneliness that Gackstetter endured when she lost her children inspired her to create Jacob’s Joy to bring awareness to the pain of infant loss.
“People don’t talk about pregnancy loss much, and when they do, it’s stigmatized. People don’t want to hear about it, and the families feel isolated,” she said. “It’s important for them to know they’re not alone. It’s hard to go through, and that’s ok.”
Gackstetter said her next goal for Jacob’s Joy is to create training for medical professionals. She said a mother who has lost a child is often met with unintended apathy and sent home with no information on processing her pain.
“(Medical professionals) need to know what to say and what not to say. They don’t realize they’re creating more trauma for the mother,” Gackstetter said.
Gackstetter spoke to crowd at the Remembrance Walk
As Gackstetter addressed the crowd that came to the Remembrance Walk to honor the children they’d lost and connect with families who understand their pain, she talked about the comfort she found in God, and she read 2 Corinthians 1:3-4, which begins, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort.”
“That’s the verse that started this all,” she said. “For some of us, our loss is recent. For some, it’s been years and for some it’s been decades, but the pain still lingers.”
Gackstetter reminded the group that “God sees you and loves you.”
“Give yourself time to heal, accept and grieve. Not a day goes by that I don’t think about our son and daughter,” Gackstedder said. “Only Jesus has the power to turn your tragedy into triumph.”
For more information about Jacob’s Joy, visit the Jacob’s Joy Facebook page.
Contact correspondent Sheri Trusty at sheritrusty4@gmail.com.
This article originally appeared on Port Clinton News Herald: Jacob's Joy aids families after miscarriage or the loss of an infant
