Couple raising money to give grieving parents more time with stillborn babies
After years of trying to have children, Megan Shutack and her husband, Brad, were elated to learn they were pregnant with twins earlier this year.
So the devastation was twice as hard when the twins, Sophia Marie and Jack Alexander, both died during childbirth. Shutack had a brief moment to hold her twins before she was rushed off to emergency surgery.
When Shutack returned to her room, the hospital staff presented a Cuddle Cot for her children to use.
“It’s basically a Moses basket (a bassinet) with a cooling system that basically keeps (the babies) at 47 degrees,” she said. “It gives you more time with stillborn babies.”
Shutack said because of the Cuddle Cot, she and her husband were able to spend the night in the hospital with their twins by their side and their families could come to visit.
Shutack said they decided to raise enough funds in order to donate a Cuddle Cot, each to Chambersburg and Waynesboro hospitals. Although they currently live in Falling Waters, West Virginia, Brad Shutack works at Waynesboro Hospital and Megan Shutack was a graduate from Chambersburg Area Senior High School.
“We figured we’d start out local because I know so many people in the Waynesboro and Chambersburg area,” she said.
Alice Skupnick, nurse manager at Chambersburg Hospital’s Family Birthing Services, said department officials are grateful for the donation.
“Chambersburg Hospital’s Family Birthing Services feels that the donation of the Cuddle Cot is a huge blessing to our unit,” she said.” “One of the greatest gifts that we can give our families experiencing a loss of their child is time. These families have to make a lifetime of memories with their child during their short time in the hospital. The Cuddle Cot allows them to have that time.”
Shutack said she and Brad want other families to have that time with their babies.
“We wanted them to have what we were able to have,” she said. “We wanted them to have time with their babies, be able to memorize all of their features and take pictures.”
Each Cuddle Cot costs $2,764, so the Shutacks are raising money through the fundraising website Go Fund Me. Shutack’s campaign site is www.gofundme.com/Jack-Sophia. On Tuesday evening, just more than half of the $6,000 goal had been raised in 18 days.
Sarah Davis can be reached at 262-4752.
This article comes to us through a partnership between Public Opinion Online and WITF.
