Friday, October 13, 2006

Alex's Run for a Reason

While my family rejoices the birth of my sister's new baby girl, I'd like to get serious for a moment and tell you a little bit about Alex. She was the adorable daughter of a woman I used to work with. On Feb. 5, 2006, Alex never woke up. To this day the cause of her death is still unknown. The sudden, unexpected loss of 22-month-old Alexandra Richardson has motivated her parents, Brian and Danna Richardson, to organize the fundraising event Alex's Run For A Reason in honor of their little girl.
(Alex Richardson and Kevin Walsh)

The event will raise money for research into Sudden Unexplained Death in Children. SUDC is "the sudden and unexpected death of a child over the age of 12 months that remains unexplained after a thorough case investigation is conducted." We've all heard of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS). My parents lived through the horror of losing my eldest brother Kevin to it when he was 2 months old back in 1960 (it was called "crib death" back then). I often think of my brother I never knew and hold him close to my heart. Yet even with this in my immediate family, I'd never heard of such a thing occurring in children who are older than infants. When I first heard that little Alex had died, I assumed that they would eventually figure out she had a heart condition or a brain aneurysm. I was wrong. It's because of this -- and my enormous sympathy for the Richardson family -- that I wanted to shed some light on this little-publicized topic.

Here are the details:
Sunday, Oct. 29, at Newbridge Road Park -- Bellmore, N.Y.
Registration will begin at 8:30
2 Mile Family Fun Run/Walk will begin at 10 a.m.
Children's Activities: Will take place in the playground area of the park and will include, games, music, face painting, children'’s entertainers and so much more.
Refreshments: Light breakfast will be provided to all registered participants.
Raffle: A variety of prizes will be raffled off. Raffle tickets can be purchased the day of the event between 8:30 and 11 a.m.

For complete information about the event click here.
You can register online here.
For information about SUDC, click here.
For information about SIDS, click here.
Even if you can't attend, you can make a tax-deductible contribution online here. (It's the perfect time to make that end-of-the-year donation before tax time.)

Proper research is the only way to ensure that there aren't future tragic deaths like those of little Kevin and little Alex.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Good Bless you Danna and Brain.

Anonymous said...

I can't even imagine.....I too have never heard of this in children that are past the infancy stage - !?!??! My god........my heart goes out to the parents....

Anonymous said...

Im so sorry. I just lost my 14 month old daughter on March 13th 2007. i laid her down for a nap that tuesday at qaurter to 3pm and went to check on her thirty min later and she was face down in her crib flat and spread out. i shook her and then i turned her over and her eyes were closed and her lips were purplish. i picked her up i screamed i cried. i heald her and called 911 and they had me do mouth to mouth on her while the ambulance came. I ran to the door to yell at them to hurry into my apt. neighbors were all over b/c they heard me screaming so badly. i ran over to her and i kissed her lips as they pulled me away. they tried everything there on our living room floor. sucked vomit out of her lungs. Rushed her to the ER. put us in a tiny room with my husband, inlaws and my grandma. They came in to our little room with their heads down and nodded and said she was gone. It was the worst day of my life I will never forget. That day is in my head forever. My worst nightmare. My first born baby. I was so proud of her she was just beautiful. Its been over three months. I cry for her every day and night and i barely sleep. The other hard part is I am 10 weeks pregnant. This baby is due the same time as Tatyana was born last year in 2006. I am trying so hard to go on for this baby, for my family. Let nature take its course so that some day i can go be with my angel in heaven. My tears are for you also.

Lots of love and understanding,
Leah Cirksena
Mother of Tatyana Loriann Cirksena
http://tatyana-cirsena.virtual-memorials.com