A MESSAGE FROM Running for Red
Early in the summer of 2018, it felt as if all of our dreams as parents had come true. Our 3-year-old son had cleared all of the hurdles nervous parents fret about, and we beheld an easy, beautiful, perfect boy who's love flowed through us and back to him in effortless symbiosis. Then on the night of July 21, 2018, we discovered he was no longer breathing in his bed, and that will forever be the most pivotal and defining moment of our lives.
In the wake of our son suddenly disappearing from our life together, we were inconsolable, whiplashed by the utterly inconceivable loss. He was the most cherished thing in our whole lives, and we were expected to live on with no explanation as to why he was taken from us at an impossibly young age. That's when we reached out to the Sudden Unexplained Death in Childhood (SUDC) Foundation, which quickly ushered us under its wing, deploying all of its resources to showing us we were not alone. Through unfettered outreach, support groups, and individual liaising with government agencies, the SUDC Foundation gave us a compass with which we found a way forward through the darkest moment of our lives.
Besides the immediate aftermath of Red losing his life, the SUDC Foundation has been instrumental in advocating for answers and government involvement in unexplained deaths among children 1-18 years old. It was explained to me early on that though unexplained deaths are more common for babies under 1-year-old (SIDS, which receives significant governmental funding), there is little attention paid toward understand the same category of death, should that child be over 364 days old. The fact remains that SUDC is the 4th leading cause of death in children 1-4 years old in this country, more than fires or bicycle accidents. Since Red's death 6 years ago, there has been progress in solving and hopefully preventing these types of deaths in the future.
I am beyond grateful for the tireless work of the SUDC Foundation team, the authentic connections with fellow bereaved parents we've met through the foundation's support groups, and the progress that we've witnessed in the past 6 years. Awareness and funding are the key to ultimately saving lives, and in the meantime, giving grieving families a system of support at no cost. I am honored and humbled to help raise money for this incredibly worthy cause.
Thank you in advance for your continued support of this organization, and to our small family. I will always feel deeply moved when I consider how my family, friends, and strangers, near and far, all met us in our grief and helped hold us up. We would be nowhere without you specifically, as well as the SUDC Foundation.
Though I have been a runner for decades, this is only my second marathon. I will be running my heart out for Red, and know that crossing the finish line will be an emotional experience. Thank you for enabling me to use my passion for running to give back to the foundation, and help all of those touched by this senseless tragedy.
The SUDC Foundation is a registered 501(c)(3). The SUDC Foundation is the only organization worldwide whose purpose is to promote awareness, fund research and serve those affected by SUDC. The SUDC Foundation provides all services at no cost to the people it serves.
Facts About Sudden Unexplained Death in Childhood
- Sudden Unexplained Death in Childhood (SUDC) is a category of death in children between the ages of 1 and 18 that remains unexplained after a thorough investigation, including an autopsy.
- Most often, a seemingly healthy child goes to sleep and never wakes up.
- At this time, we do not know what causes SUDC, how to predict it or how to prevent it.
- A medical examiner or coroner could rule a child’s death SUDC when s/he completes a thorough evaluation and finds no other cause of death.
- See the National Organization for Rare Disorders' report on SUDC.
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