Pamela Ferguson's contagiously positive attitude overshadows the tragedy she and her family have experienced. However, she carries a piece of it with her every day in the form of a necklace that holds her son's ashes.
"I have all my other kids with me all the time. I need to have him with me too," Pamela said.
Her son Declan would've been the youngest of four children, a little brother for Logan who's currently the only young man of the bunch. Declan, however, never made it into this world but he will leave his tiny footprint.
"I believe he can make an impact too. I mean he had a purpose," said Pamela.
May, 19 2016, Declan's due date. "We entered what we thought was the safe zone," she said. However, Pamela went into labor 22 and half weeks into her pregnancy. "Sadly, there really is no safe zone. So we made it into the beginning of our third trimester and my guard was totally down."
Pamela was only able to spend and hour and a half with her son, time she's thankful for but wishes she had more. "That sets the tone for everything going forward, everything," she said.
Now she's on a mission to give other families time she didn't have. With instruments like a Caring Cradle, it can happen.
"All these things coming at you from ten different directions there was never a time to stop and take a breath and just be in the moment."
The devices can give grieving mothers and parents extra hours and even days with their lost infants. The company that makes them is looking to begin manufacturing Caring Cradles in middle Tennessee, meaning hospitals like the one where Pamela gave birth will benefit from it. Pamela, of course, is helping to lead the way.
"Just to turn our hurt into love and to make it not so painful, if it's even possible to take a little bit of that hurt for somebody else then that makes it worth it," Pamela said.
She's started a kick starter campaign to raise money to manufacture Caring Cradles. Her goal is to put one in every hospital in Tennessee.
Learn more or donate by clicking here.
