– Margaret D’Arrigo-Martin, First Candle Board Member

Julian Jamaal Alexander

Julian Jamaal Alexander was a happy, healthy 3 1/2 month old baby boy whose giggles and coos would melt the hearts of all that met him. On March 24, 2005, the Alexander family’s lives and dreams were shattered when his lifeless body was found laying peacefully between his mother and father.

For them, SIDS was not something they knew much about – and they certainly had not been warned about the importance of safe sleep in reducing the risk of SIDS and other accidental infant deaths. Bridgette and Jonathan Alexander, along with Julian’s grandmother Deborah Williams, are here today to share their story in the hope of sparing other families the devastation of loosing a precious child.

Simon Jeffrey Hunsberger

Simon Jeffrey Hunsberger was born on May 16th, 2005. He was a few weeks early, but there were no complications and he progressed through his first months with flying colors – laughing, giggling and otherwise entertaining his adoring family. The “family bed” was a common practice for Jeffrey Hunsberger and Michelle Legere, as it was for many of their peers.

There was never any indication from the literature they read or their physician that there was anything dangerous about sleeping with Simon in their bed.

Yet Simon died in his sleep on August 22, 2005. As is typical with a SIDS death, the medical examiner found nothing significant that could have caused Simon’s death. Yet his death was classified as “cause and manner of death unknown,” because he was sleeping in an adult bed.

James

“James is my youngest grandchild. He was born on Aug. 28, 2007 and became an angel on Jan. 12, 2008 at the age of 4 1/2 months. According to his autopsy, he died of SIDS. He died while taking his afternoon nap on a queen size pillow top bed and in the prone position at his babysitter’s. I questioned his babysitter if she was going to use the crib from her children that are 3 and 4 and she told me she gave the crib away but has a pack-n-play. James didn’t have a choice that he took his nap in an unsafe sleeping environment that had an increased risk factors for SIDS. We need laws to prevent this because education isn’t working.

“James’ babysitter knew the risks for SIDS but she chose to ignore them. Every baby is entitled to a safe sleeping environment. Beds are made for children and adults and not designed for a baby. There are safety recalls if a crib is found unsafe but there aren’t any laws of preventing a baby of sleeping in a bed that is hazardous and can cause suffocation.. There are laws requiring a baby, toddler and child to use a carseat and booster seat to lower the risk of a child dying in a car accident but not one of mandatory use of a crib or pack-n-play for a safe sleeping environment.

“All babies are entitled to the ABCs of infant safe sleep – Alone, on the Back, in a Crib so they have the chance to learn their regular ABC,s as a toddler. Safety caps are required on medicine, plastic bags have suffocation warnings, buckets have drowning warnings, doors are taken off refrigerators when they are trashed, lead was removed from paint and MADD has created laws against drunk driving to safe lives. We need laws to save the lives of our precious babies.

“My last memories of James is holding him the night before he died and trying to get him to say ‘DeeDee.’

“He would give me a big smile and make this gurgling sound. I will never have the chance to hear him say, “DeeDee.” When I babysat him on Saturdays and his mom, sister and brother would pick him up, the first thing my granddaughter when she entered my home was “James, James, where’s my James.” I miss hearing that and think of it every Saturday around the time they would pick him up. My life is never going to be the same. I think of James all the time and even wake up at night, just thinking of him. The following Sunday we were suppose to celebrate his baptism into the Catholic church but instead that Thursday we had a Mass of the Angels. James, I will always love it and our family circle will always have a missing link.”

– DeeDee, James’ grandma, Cathi Kelly