Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Day is Oct. 15 and Lo-Anne Chan is inviting the community to come and light a candle in memory of a lost child or in support of someone who has experienced loss.
The Wave of Light Ceremony will take place at River Bank and Co. at 172 Front St. North with people asked to bring a candle and arrive at 6:45 p.m. for the candle lighting at 7 p.m.
“One cool thing this year is that I actually did get City Hall to agree to light up City Hall in honour of Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Day,” says Chan. “So City Hall's lights will be purple as well as the Sarnia sign by the water.”
This is the second Wave of Light Ceremony that Chan has organized in recognition and honour of babies lost to stillbirth, miscarriage, infant death, and medical termination.
The ceremony is part of the Pregnancy and Infant Loss Network (PAIL) and the idea is to have groups around the globe light their candles so it appears like a wave of light is going around the world.
“Just having community with people who know what each other is going through is really helpful,” explains Chan.
“We're trying to foster this community of people just right now with the two events a year. Even if those are the two times you see people, maybe you'll make some friends.”
Last year, Chan lost her fifth daughter, Araminta Valeria, an hour after birth. She found PAIL when doing research on what support systems there were for parents suffering the loss of a baby.
“For my grief journey, I was like, I'm just going to do whatever I can to try to make it easier for the next person who has to go through this unfortunate event,” says Chan.
“So one of my first roles with PAIL was to become a community awareness volunteer. So one of the things that I do is I drop off awareness kits to different organizations in town…or anyone who comes in contact with someone who is pregnant and either has suffered pregnancy loss or has lost an infant ... and just to be like there is a place that has resources.”
Now she works to help organize gatherings like The Wave of Light, A Walk to Remember, and runs the Valeria Fund that supports Bluewater Health’s Maternal Infant Care (MIC) unit and Pediatric Palliative Care team.
Chan creates comfort kits that are given out at the hospital to support families going through grief.
“I’ll also be donating another set of comfort kits hopefully in the upcoming months. Which includes a bunny, a candle, and a book. There are some for children if there are siblings. Just a bunch of comforting things for the parents to bring home that aren’t emotionally tied to their babies,” Chan explains.
If you are unable to attend the gathering, there are Wave of Light candles that can be purchased in support of the Valeria Fund. They suggest lighting it for an hour on the 15th, from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Chan will also be taking part in the Running 4 Our 4Ever Babies campaign during the month of October alongside Carmen Grover.
The pair will walk and run 4 km in 11 Lambton County municipalities over 11 days between 10 a.m. and 11 a.m. in honour of the babies that have been lost.
“She is going to have a flag with the names of babies that people have submitted to her, to raise awareness and be like, ‘look we remember your babies you are not alone’,” says Chan.
If you wish to support them they will be in the following municipalities on these dates and encourage you to check Instagram for where they will be. Funds raised from this will be used towards comfort kits.
Oct 1 - Watford
Oct 3 - Brooke-Alvinston
Oct 6 - Forest
Oct 8 - Plympton-Wyoming
Oct 13 - Sarnia
Oct 17 - Oil Springs
Oct 20 - Petrolia
Oct 22 - St Clair
Oct 24 - Dawn-Euphemia
Oct 29 - Enniskillen
Oct 31 - Point Edward