WALK TO REMEMBER Parents recall loved ones

The company of others who've endured the same loss gives solace to some.
By ROGER G. SMITH
CITY HALL REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- A gentle breeze blew about six dozen pink and blue balloons to the north and east out from Crandall Park and into a cloudy sky Saturday morning.
The balloons carried messages such as "God bless" and "See you in heaven" in honor of babies who already are there.
About 60 parents -- several pushing infants in strollers -- and brothers, sisters and grandparents walked the mile or so along Goleta Avenue to the park from Forum Health Northside Medical Center to remember their lost family members.
The 16th annual Walk to Remember recalls those such as Katelyn Nicole Welsch, who died May 16, 2000. Doctors diagnosed her with a serious medical condition at 20 weeks. She was stillborn at 33 weeks.
Nearly a million babies die in the United States each year because of miscarriage, ectopic pregnancy, prematurity, stillbirth or newborn death.
Katelyn's mother, Christina Welsch of Lake Milton, said the company of others who've endured the same loss gives her solace. She also has a friend whose child died about the same time as Katelyn, so they share the painful experience.
"It's knowing that I'm not alone" that helps, Welsch said.
Too often, people expect families who lose babies to grieve for just a short time and get over it, said Joanne Repaskey, a registered nurse who works in labor and delivery at Northside. She also handles the hospital's bereavement services.
"That's not easy to do," she said. "These losses are very significant to people."
Shared experiences
Some families have been to the event for the past 10 or 12 years, Repaskey said.
For others, the experience remains raw. One mother who came Saturday had a son who died just a month ago.
The event gives families an outlet they don't otherwise have, said Abby DePaul, a retired labor and delivery nurse at Northside who co-founded the remembrance walk.
Being sad is part of the process, DePaul said, but the event also is a celebration.
The children remembered were alive and shared experiences with their mothers and fathers to be celebrated, she said, from kicking in the womb to ultrasound images families came to know.
James and Jennie Slabe of Hubbard came to honor their son, James Joseph, a newborn who died March 2, 1997, of undetermined causes.
They've made the Walk to Remember every year since.
"This is his day," his father said.
He and his wife advise families who suffer the loss of a baby to talk about what's happened to them. Using bereavement services that are offered also helps to deal with life afterward, they said.
There is life after such a difficult loss for the Slabes and others.
The Slabe family pushed a pink stroller with a little girl curled up inside. Victoria Slabe turned a month old Saturday.
"She's coming out to celebrate [her brother] with us today," Jennie Slabe said.
rgsmith@vindy.com