Stillbirth Support & Advocacy Symposium

October 22-23, 2007
Washington, DC

*Obtained from www.firstcandle.org

First Candle is pleased to announce that it will host the inaugural Stillbirth Support & Advocacy Symposium October 22-23, 2007.

Set to coincide with a meeting of the Stillbirth Collaborative Research Network, the symposium will offer stillbirth parents an opportunity to hear from leading stillbirth researchers and meet with representatives on Capitol Hill.

Additionally, we will launch a National Stillbirth Peer Support Network, providing training to peer advocates who will offer support to bereaved families in their communities.

As space is limited, we are asking interested individuals to complete a pre-registration application. It is our goal to select a geographically diverse, ambitious group of participants that will help us gain the momentum needed to push this important agenda forward.

There will be no charge for the Symposium, and breakfast on both days and lunch and dinner on Monday will be complimentary. Unfortunately, at this time, we do not have the ability to underwrite air travel or hotel expenses but are actively seeking funding that could possibly make scholarships available.

Stillbirth Collaborative Research Network

In 2003, the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) established the Stillbirth Collaborative Research Network (SCRN) to study the extent and causes of stillbirth in the United States. The SCRN encompasses five clinical sites: Brown University, Rhode Island; Emory University, Georgia; University of Texas, Medical Branch at Galveston, Texas; University of Texas, Health Sciences Center at San Antonio, Texas; and University of Utah Health Sciences Center, Utah and a Data Coordinating and Analysis Center- Research Triangle Institute International, Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

The network covers substantial portions of 5 states - Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Georgia, Texas and Utah - and reflects urban/rural and racial diversity. The network aims include: (1) obtaining a geographic, population-based determination of the incidence of stillbirth defined as fetal death at 20 weeks gestation or greater and (2) determining the causes of stillbirth using a standard stillbirth postmortem protocol, to include review of clinical history, protocols for autopsy and pathologic examinations of the fetus and placenta, and other postmortem tests to illuminate genetic, maternal, and other environmental influences for stillbirth.

The network developed a multi-site, population-based, hypothesis-driven, case-control study, with prospective enrollment of stillbirths as cases and of live births as controls. The goal is to enroll 500 cases of stillbirth with full evaluations performed (including fetal autopsies) and 1,850 control live births with an over-sampling of preterm births. The full study protocol began in May 2006 with 56 hospitals currently participating in the study.

The information derived from this five-year study will benefit families who have experienced a stillbirth, women who are pregnant or who are considering pregnancy, and their physicians. In addition, the knowledge will support future research aimed at improving preventive and therapeutic interventions and understanding the pathological mechanisms that lead to stillbirth.

Eight Years Later

This was posted by a mother who lost her child 8 years ago today. It was so well written that it needed to be shared:

My heart stopped beating. My world was forever changed. My faith vanished. My soul left my body. My innocense was taken. My personality changed. My dreams disappeared. My past life became such a blurry memory. My new life seemed destined for someone else. My being made no sense. Rage became my most used feeling. My daughter died. My daughter died. My daughter died.

We never forget.