Memorial Dedication To Our Son...
Joseph William Bryant
07/18/94 - 12/01/94

Joey

Joseph William Bryant was born a month early on July 18, 1994. He was our first born and of course we were so ecstatic to be parents. Unfortunately, on December 1, 1994, Joey was a victim of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) at 4 1/2 months old. At that moment our lives were changed forever.

After almost 6 years of having to say good-bye to my son because of Death, I felt the need to dedicate a page for him. As someone who has lost a child, I continue to feel the need to keep his memory alive. As the years keep growing longer this desire becomes even more intense at times, so I hope you will understand the need for this page. It is in no way for me to receive "attention" or "sympathy" from it - if anything I hope it will help in my grieving process once again.

I would also like to provide SIDS information links for anyone who wants to try and understand more about SIDS and the foundations trying to find a "cure" for SIDS. I hope if there are others who have lost children from SIDS that they may also find comfort and helpful links to help them through their loss.

Unfortunately, there are no exact findings as to why SIDS happens, so this leaves such an open door for so many unanswered questions throughout the rest of our lives. I truly hope that the SIDS Foundation can find out all the questions some day, so that no one will ever have to endure such a tragedy as we have in our lives.

We were blessed with a daughter, Kayla Danielle, on December 30, 1996. She has brought us so much joy in our lives once again. I so wish she could have known her brother, Joey, as well as him being able to be a "big" brother. His life has changed our lives in so many ways and he will always be "Our Precious Angel."

The following is a poem I wrote shortly after losing our son, which expresses some of the feelings I was enduring.

WHEN MY LIFE STOOD STILL

When you were here with me
everything was so alive,
bright and happy.

Then all at once you were taken
away to a place called Heaven,
and my life on earth stood still.

Now everything around me is so
quiet and unmoving.

The rocking chair I rocked you in
at night stopped rocking.

The mobile bunnies that made you
smile stopped turning round and round.

The soft musical bunny that you liked
up against your precious face,
stopped playing.

The water that boiled to warm your
bottles stopped bubbling.

The swing that soothed you as you
fell asleep stopped swinging.

And now, because Death made us
say Good-bye,
I felt my heart stop beating.