HIGH POINT, NC – While Brittany & Ryan Dull have walked many times on the field at the High Point Rockers Stadium in High Point, North Carolina, the walk they took with nearly a hundred others on November 9th was one they will never forget.
“Sadly, Ryan and I lost our baby with no known reason after a ‘healthy’ pregnancy at 32 weeks gestation,” explained Brittany Dull as the couple hosted their first Child Loss Awareness Walk in honor of their son, Jordan Dull. “When you’re in the hospital after you lose your baby, your head is absolutely spinning. You don’t know where to go, you don’t know where to turn, you’re shaking. You can’t even believe that you just heard that your child has no heartbeat.”
For parents who have experienced loss, The Dulls intend to host what will now be an annual fundraiser for Trellis Supportive Care that offers complimentary grief therapy as a way to provide space for families who have experienced loss of any kind. “Those that have experienced a pregnancy or infant loss, they feel that they don’t have the space to talk about it,” explains Bethany G, Specialized Grief Counselor at Trellis. “It’s not just that baby that they have lost, it’s the grief that they may have over the future so thinking about that child and how old that child will be, that child being involved in certain activities or certain family traditions.”
To combat this barrier, Trellis and their providers are on a mission to educate local providers about how to best support grieving parents newly navigating loss. “Unfortunately, a lot of these providers are not given that very specific grief education for pregnancy and infant loss that we need. We need to be patient, and we need to just hold that space for people.”
The first annual walk around the Rockers stadium featured coffee from Kyle’s Coffee with a brew crafted in Jordan’s memory, auction items such as signed memorabilia from The High Point Rockers, Savannah Bananas, Boston Red Sox, and more with a platform for families to speak openly about their loss and healing journey.
“I’ve been very open about my story because I know a lot of us women, and parents and families go through this,” says Brittany. “It makes me teary eyed because I believe God is using me as a vessel to be very open about my story.”
To learn more about Trellis Supportive Care, visit their website.
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Emmalyn Reid 