Family turns painful loss into generous gift to support other parents

09/06/2022

The Sewell family honored Alahni’s
memory by donating a CuddleCot to
Banner Estrella.

One day last summer should have been a time of celebration for Amanda Sewell and her family as they prepared to welcome their baby girl to the world. But baby Alahni’s stillbirth instead left them shocked and grieving.

While the family was devastated, they were afforded an opportunity to spend valuable time with Alahni at Banner Estrella Medical Center, thanks to a CuddleCot. This pediatric mortuary cooling bed gives families more time with their stillborn baby, fostering a gradual grieving process.

One year later, the Sewell family honored Alahni’s memory by donating a CuddleCot to Banner Estrella. Amanda was extremely grateful to the staff for their care and empathy throughout her stay in the hospital. “This donation has helped us in our healing process because I know how much the CuddleCot helped me,” Amanda said. “The CuddleCot was such a gift to us because we were able to have three days with her — those are the only memories we were ever going to get, and they’re going to last a lifetime.”

Hannah Fox, Director of Women’s and Infants Services, spoke on what the donation means to other families that experience such tremendous loss. “It is difficult to put into words what a donation of an additional CuddleCot means to our staff and for the community, as parents and other family members will now have the opportunity to grieve in their own time,” Fox said. “It is rare to see a positive moment come out of such an unimaginable tragedy, and we thank the Sewell family for their generous gift in honor of their beloved daughter.”