Article Contributed on: 4/21/2008 10:50:26 AM
Cheryl Haggard never knew that the news delivered to her exactly three years ago would end up changing so many lives around the world.
Doctors at Presbyterian/St. Luke's Hospital in Denver told Cheryl and her husband
Mike that their fourth child, Maddux, had a rare disorder called myotubular myopathy, and he would
never breathe on his own.
The Haggards made the excruciating decision to disconnect Maddux from life support, but not until days after they had walked the halls of the hospital, pondering their options, and viewing images of healthy newborn babies on the wall.
Cheryl knew that if she was going to leave the hospital without her baby, she wanted to be able to remember this beautiful child in portraits that would last a lifetime.
The Haggards saw the signature of
Sandy Puc' in the corner of the images up and down the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. They simply looked her up in the phone book, and asked her to come to them.
"In the hundreds of newborn sessions I had done previously, I had never received a request like this, to come photograph a baby who was not going to survive," said Puc' of the day the Haggards phoned her.
Puc' and her assistants packed up their gear - they knew time was of the essence - and they did exactly what the Haggards requested. The team snapped images of baby Maddux with his mother and father, and then they left the room while the Haggards said goodbye to their baby.
On that night in 2005, the team from Expressions Photography then gathered their emotions, as they were summoned back into the room to take more pictures, now that Maddux was free of his life support tubes.
"He simply looked like he was sleeping in his mother's arms," said Puc'. "And he was free and beautiful, just as his family would want to remember him, at peace."
Haggard and Puc' connected that day andby April of 2005, they incorporated the concept of professional bereavement photography into a non-profit 501(c)3 organization called The Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep Foundation (NILMDTS).
Three years later, NILMDTS has 4,000+ photographers in 14 countries.
As words spreads about the free service offered by professional photographers for parents in need, more and more volunteers are signing up for the program.
"When our membership peaked at 2,000 last year, we realized we needed to raise funds to support the photographers with better systems, training, and educational means," said Haggard.
Now, nearly every hospital in the United States and many around the globe are aware of the program. While NILMDTS is not contracted through the hospitals, the staffers are able to provide brochures to patients who receive terminal diagnosis for their babies, and staffers make a request for a volunteer on behalf of the families.
At the headquarters office in Littleton, the phone rings off the hook and the staff can barely keep up with the new applicants. Following a five-minute segment on NILMDTS that aired on the Today Show in March, the staff is still processing the more than 750 new applications from professionals who now want to be a part of the program.
The newest inquiry came from a photographer in South Africa just last week. Prior to that phone call, the newest photographers in theNILMDTS program were from France, Singapore, Mexico, Guatamala,and the Channel Islands
Here in Colorado, there are approximately 75 professional photographers in the Denver Metro Area alone who provide portraiture to families at metro area hospitals.
An equally talented group of photographers assist families in Southern and Northern Colorado as well.
At the office in Littleton, the staff could use assistance from non-photographer volunteers Monday through Friday with duties such as logging donations, sending out thank you notes, and mailing brochures and materials to photographers and hospitals.
Additionally, the organization is run 100% on donations, and your support is appreciated. For more information, go to:
www.nowilaymedowntosleep.org. You may also send donations to NILMDTS, 7800 S. Elati St. #111, Littleton, CO, 80120 or e-mail
headquarters@nilmdts.org.