OUR REASON

We’re Stephanie and Tim Lamb. After trying for years to start a family, we learned in August 2020 we were expecting a child. We were absolutely thrilled, but also incredibly anxious, because not only was this our first pregnancy, but the world was still reeling from the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Little did we know just how different our journey would be.

October 1, 2020 was the day things took a dramatic turn. During a scheduled ultrasound, our doctor identified the warning signs of some serious, life-threatening conditions in our baby’s development. Hearing this brought a heavy weight of disbelief and caused tears to well up in our eyes. The feelings of that moment are still hard to describe, but in short, we were devastated.

We carried the uncertainty of the situation throughout the rest of the pregnancy. To add further stress, both of us tested positive for COVID in late January, and as we began to recover Stephanie was rushed to the hospital to have an emergency c-section after being diagnosed with severe pre-eclampsia.

Once Jude was born, multiple tests were done that not only confirmed our doctor’s initial fears, but found additional issues that didn’t show on ultrasound. The list was long and our boy fought hard, but the complexity of his issues ultimately proved too much to overcome. Jude passed away peacefully in April after we made the very difficult, yet loving decision to free him from pain and take him off life support.

After Jude’s passing, we took some time to reflect on our experience. While we were still grieving the loss of our son, we couldn’t help but think of the other families in the NICU with us, knowing we weren’t the first and we wouldn’t be the last parents to handle such struggles. We began identifying ways to help other families through their own critical care journeys, establishing the Jude August Foundation as our way to give back, while also honoring and remembering our sweet Jude August Lamb.