Dear Friends of First Candle,

It is with great pride and excitement that we share with you today news of a new study out of the SIDS Center of Excellence at Children’s Hospital Boston, led by Harvard researcher Dr. Hannah Kinney, regarding another breakthrough in SIDS research!

The findings from the study indicate we are closing in on a defect in the brainstem related to serotonin as a likely cause for SIDS. This recent study built on the research team’s 2006 study that identified potential problems with serotonin and serotonin receptor bindings in the brainstems of babies who die of SIDS. The results of the study are based on a comparison of brainstem samples from infants dying of SIDS to brainstems of infants dying from other, known causes. The findings will be published in the February 3 issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association.

The results are compelling and send a strong message to parents on the importance of good prenatal care and safe sleep in protecting babies from SIDS, the leading cause of death for babies one month to one year of age.

For those that would like further information, please refer to First Candle’s press release, the press release out of Harvard and the full text of the article.

• There will be significant media coverage of the event beginning with the NBC nightly news at 6:30 this evening. View a schedule of additional media coverage
  
• Our friends at Scripps Howard News Service have been instrumental in bringing the issue of sudden infant deaths in America to the forefront of infant mortality issues. Link to this article.

We would also like to recognize Dr. Henry Krous of the SIDS/SUDC research project at Rady Children’s Hospital-San Diego. Critical to Dr. Kinney’s work is the availability of tissue samples. Dr. Krous’ is the only project currently collecting tissue samples for research purposes .

First Candle has been nationally recognized as key supporters of these projects throughout the past 20 years, and we would like to thank you, our many supporters, for the role you have played in this success; we couldn’t have done it without each and every one of you.

We would like to close with a call to action.
It is critical that we continue to move this research forward to find out what causes this defect, identify babies at risk and develop preventive treatments for the serotonin deficit.

• Please consider making a donation to SIDS research through First Candle. We are happy to direct your dollars to either of these worthy projects.
• We will keep you apprised of advocacy efforts and other ways you can help make SIDS a thing of the past.

Thank you in advance for your ongoing support of our efforts – in the belief that every baby should live.

Warm regards,

The board and staff of First Candle