"Luke Lives On: Pregnancy and Infant Loss," with Lisa Hays

After losing her son, Luke, halfway through her pregnancy in 2011, Lisa was led to meet the needs of the pregnancy and infant loss community. She received her 501c3 just a mere 10 months after her loss. The mission of "Luke Lives On" is to provide support, comfort and resources to families who have lost a child during pregnancy or shortly after birth. This is done through the gift of a comfort box filled with various resources to help the family navigate their grieving to healing journey. Her goal is to ultimately help these families realize they are not alone in their journey. In fact, one in four pregnancies results in miscarriage or some other form of loss.

"Luke Lives On" donates the comfort boxes to hospitals and individuals nationwide. Since the inception in December 2011, LLO has partnered with 26 hospitals and has donated nearly 4,000 boxes.

Lisa is a native southwest Austinite. In her spare time she enjoys running at Town Lake, traveling and live music. She is looking forward to partnering with Mindy and continuing to spread awareness for the pregnancy and infant loss community.

Calls to Action

1. Be Available – whether it’s someone dealing with the loss of their baby, a parent, a friend...just let them know you care about them and that you’re available for them when they’re ready. You don’t have to fix anything or have all the answers. You just need to genuinely listen and be there for them when they’re ready to talk.
2. Remember the Important Dates – for those who have experienced pregnancy or infant loss, the angel birthdays and due dates are very important! Note them in your calendar. Reach out on those days and let them know their son/daughter is not forgotten.
3. Don’t Minimize Loss – Loss hurts at six weeks. It hurts at 40 weeks. It hurts everywhere in-between. The loss of a child shouldn’t be minimized by their gestational age. Those babies are someone’s sons and daughters. Many of them were very much wanted and prayed for. Saying words like, “at least you were only “so” far along in your pregnancy”, or “you can always have another”, or at least you’ve already got a living child” is not helpful and doesn’t reduce the pain of the child lost.

Resources

We like to refer people to the resources page on our website for a comprehensive view of support: https://www.lukeliveson.org/resources

Some of my personal favorites are:

Websites or apps:

• https://stillstandingmag.com/
• http://facesofloss.com/
• https://www.october15th.com/
• www.1in4app.com

Local Support Group:

• Hope Perinatal Loss Group

Book:

• Grieving the Child I Never Knew, by Kathe Wunnenberg