Those wishing to honour the memory of a lost infant need not do it alone.
Bradford is planning to recognize October as Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness month with a flag raising and service in the courtyard of the Bradford West Gwillimbury Court House at 57 Holland St. E., on Sunday Oct. 15 at 1 p.m.
Later that evening, the court house clock tower is set to be illuminated in pink, blue and purple as part of the Wave of Light, an international event in which people and organizations from around the world join in lighting candles in remembrance of lost infants on Oct. 15 starting at 7 p.m.
Some buildings, landmarks and monuments are also lit pink, blue and purple, and along with the candles, remain lit for one hour, causing the light to move west with the time zones, like a wave.
While the candles are lit, the names of lost infants are also sometimes read aloud.
Liz Moore, president of the Bond Head Women’s Institute and co-chair of Newmarket and BWG chapter of Wave of Light, is helping to bring the flag raising to Bradford for a second year, and for the first time this year, a service is also planned for families including candles and name readings.
“We started the chapter six years ago following the tragic and heartbreaking loss of my granddaughter Anna who was born sleeping following a cord complication. Our family was devastated and as we groped through the darkness we knew that we had to find a way to shine a light to heal,” she said via email.
Along the way they discovered the Wave of Light and partnered with Southlake Regional Health Centre to illuminate the Davis Drive Bridge, worked with the Region of York to illuminate their clock towers on Yonge Street and worked with the Town of Newmarket to illuminate the Fred Lundy Bridge on Water Street.
Each year since 2018, Moore said they have held an outdoor service at 7 p.m. at Newmarket’s Riverwalk Commons, where approximately 70 people attend.
“We have learned so much over the last six years about the isolation, depression and devastation that occurs in the loss of a baby in pregnancy and infancy. There is no other loss quite like it, and it leaves families shattered and broken. It is our mission to shine a light through the darkness and to help families know their baby mattered and they are not alone,” she said.
According to the Public Health Agency of Canada, between 2005 and 2014, the overall rate of fetal mortality (intrauterine death of a fetus) fluctuated between 7.5 and 8.1 per 1,000 total births, and between 2002 and 2011, the infant mortality rate (death within the first year of birth) in Canada fluctuated between 4.9 and 5.4 per 1,000 live births.
While various countries have made efforts to recognize pregnancy and infant loss since the ’80s, the U.K. officially held the first Baby Loss Awareness week in October 2002, and in Ontario, Bill 141, the Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness, Research and Care Act, received royal assent on Dec. 10, 2015 and officially proclaimed Oct. 15 as Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Day in the province.
