Thanks Cheryl Conner for covering our first donation. We really appreciate the respect that you gave to the event. Thank you.
http://wjla.com/news/local/breelyns-blanket-brigade-donates-blankets-to-er-for-babies-who-pass-away
TAKOMA PARK, Md. (ABC7) — Handmade blankets are given to the emergency room staff at Washington Adventist Hospital. They will be used for one final comfort for infants and small children who passed away.
The parents of a baby who died from #SIDS donate homemade blankets to the ER at @AdventistHC where their baby was given her final blanket.
“We can’t pretend this has a happy ending, and so I love that people are able to be okay with that,” said Summer Porter, the creator of Breelyn’s Blanket Brigade.
Porter and her husband turned their healing into helping others by creating Breelyn’s Blanket Brigade.
Breelyn’s Blanket Brigade started shortly after she died 8 months ago. Now close to 100 blankets are made in celebration of her 1st bday
“She went down for a nap and just didn’t wake up from a nap,” said Porter.
Breelyn would have turned one on Sunday. Instead of cake, her family and complete strangers built up the blanket supply and then came back to the hospital to thank the doctors, nurses and paramedics who tried to revive her.
“One of our nurses, not too long after Breelyn came in, after the team worked on her and could not revive her, then went to the closet and took one of these blankets and just wrapped her,” said Ann Roda, who provides mission integration and spiritual care at Adventist HealthCare.
Breelyn died from SIDS back in June while at Little Angels Daycare in College Park, which is no longer on the state’s child care database following accusations they were understaffed.
“It’s really unusual that families come back to us and give us some closure,” said Dr. Linda Nordeman, the medical director for Washington Adventist Hospital.
Fifteen blankets were given to the hospital on Monday, and Breelyn’s family plans to continue to donate.
Porter says she and her husband have to keep going for their three-year-old daughter, Brooklyn.
“If we can make somebody’s worse day just a little bit better, then we have to try,” said Porter.
“If we can make somebody’s worse day just a little bit better, then we have to try,” said Breelyn’s mom, on the blanket donations.,
You can learn more about how to donate a blanket at breelynsblanketbrigade.com.