After Losing Baby, Couple Sends Bears with Heartbeats to Families Whose Children Might Not Live
Lauren and Wayne Turley lost their infant daughter to birth defects.
Lauren Turley knows exactly how devastating it feels to learn the baby in your womb is likely to die.
She was told at 20 weeks that her daughter had severe health complications due to Trisomy 18, a condition resulting from an error in cell division that creates an extra chromosome 18.
Read: Mom Spent 16 Days with Baby's Body After Child's Death to 'Help Her Grieve'
Her baby entered the world weighing two pounds and five ounces. She lived for only an hour.
Lauren, and her husband, Wayne, did not want their grief to swallow them whole. They struggled to find a way to help pull themselves, and others, from the depths of anguish.
That's when they came up with Catherine Cares, a nonprofit named for their lost daughter, which distributes teddy bears containing a device that records heartbeats in the womb, according to KMOV-TV.
Through fundraising drives, they amassed enough money to produce 2,400 stuffed animals with Build-a-Bear and donate them to Missouri hospitals, where they will be given to expectant parents who’ve received dire prognoses about the health of their babies.
Read: Mom Dies A Hero After Dropping Newborn Out of Window During Fire
For Lauren, it’s about the chance to capture an audible memory that helps override the painful images of lost children.
“My husband’s wedding ring could fit around her arm,” she told InsideEdition.com Wednesday, recalling Catherine’s miniscule frame.
Her organization will deliver the bears to the state’s largest hospitals.
“It’s important to capture the baby’s heartbeat,” she said.
Watch: Baby with Fish-Like Skin Defies Odds She Wouldn't Live Longer Than a Year
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