The Sammy Project Helps Remember Lost Little Ones
By: Claire Kellett, Anchor/Reporter
Story as seen on KCRG and on KCRG.com
CEDAR RAPIDS - Torri Jenn and her camera keep families' memories alive. Pictures of her niece Bella and nephew Benny highlight happy times, but Torri's camera also captures a family's heartache.
"I'd be afraid I'd forget what he looked like. It's so concrete to have them,” says Lois Swantz of Mount Vernon.
Lois and her husband Scott lost their son Brandon five years ago. He was a stillborn baby. Torri took professional pictures of the family's brief time with Brandon.
"You just look through these, and it puts you right back in the room again. You can almost smell the room and hear the sounds in the hospital,” says Scott.
"They're special. They’re a treasure. They're about all we have of him,” says Lois.
Torri and a few other photographers create photo albums for families of stillborns at St. Luke’s Hospital in Cedar Rapids. A stillbirth occurs when a baby dies more than five months into the pregnancy, but the mother still gives birth to her child.
"They're black and white. They’re at a fast speed, so they're kind of grainy and kind of artful looking,” says Torri.
The free service at St. Luke's Hospital is called The Sammy Project. Sammy's family doesn't want others to face the painful healing process without personal pictures. Torri knows how hard that is. She is Sammy's aunt.
"I remember asking both of them if they wanted me to go and get my camera,” says Torri.
But Torri's sister Krista and her husband Ronnie Blocklinger wanted their family to stay by their sides. The couple lost their first child after a full-term pregnancy.
"When he told me he was gone, it literally felt like my heart was being ripped out of my chest. It was a terrible feeling,” says Krista.
Taking family pictures at such a sad time was far from their minds.
"The thing that is weird about that day is when someone says can I take your picture?” says Ronnie.
But the Blocklingers cherish the few photos of Sammy taken by hospital staff. Bella and Benny can at least picture the older brother they never knew. That's why Ronnie and Krista coordinate free photography for families suffering the same loss.
"We took the worst thing that could happen to a human being, and made it positive. That's what we are trying to do with The Sammy Project,” says Ronnie.
Every family also gets a little toy lamb, much like the lamb the Blocklingers almost always carry with them. His name is Sammy.
"It's just a visual reminder that he's always around us. I know it in my heart, but it's nice to have the visual reminders as well,” says Krista.
A family's time with a stillborn is so short, but a little lamb and priceless pictures can keep those family memories alive.
