This past week, the Aultman Birth Center was the grateful recipient of a second CuddleCot, thanks to a donation from local couple Leslie and Andrew Burman and their Be Like the Willow Movement organization, along with the nonprofit group Ashlie’s Embrace. Aultman’s first CuddleCot was donated back in 2016 by the Wiles Wellness Foundation in memory of Brandon through Ashlie’s Embrace, and has given many grieving families the gift of time over the past four years. 

CuddleCots are refrigerated devices that use cooling pads to help preserve a baby in the event of stillbirth, SIDS or other neonatal/infant loss. It allows parents and families more precious time to say their final goodbyes.

The Ashlie’s Embrace group was started by local couple Erin and Anthony Maroon when they had a stillborn daughter, Ashlie, in 2015. Their group works to increase awareness of CuddleCots and make them available to parents through medical facilities. They have raised thousands of dollars and have donated a total of 65 CuddleCots to hospitals throughout the United States.

The CuddleCot they donated to Aultman in 2016 was used by the Burman family the following year, when they too experienced the devastation of a stillborn child with their daughter, Willow. The Burmans used the CuddleCot to spend extra time with their daughter, which according to Leslie Burman was “... wonderful. It was beautiful. It was a blessing ...”

The Be Like the Willow Movement was founded by Leslie and her husband after Willow’s death. The organization encourages people to do random acts of kindness during National Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month in October. They also work closely with Ashlie’s Embrace to donate CuddleCots. So far, they have raised enough funds to donate a total of 12 units to medical facilities in three states.

These CuddleCots have been a blessing for hundreds of families throughout the country. Here at Aultman, there were several times in the past few months when there was a need for two CuddleCots at the same time. Units had to be borrowed from neighboring hospitals to meet that need for our families. The recent donation of the second CuddleCot unit will help alleviate that issue in the future.

“We are so very grateful for these wonderful families and their donations,” said Aultman Perinatal Bereavement & Outreach Coordinator Monica Coventry. “Now we can continue to provide the best quality bereavement care for our families.”

For more about this amazing gift, read this article from The Canton Repository. You can also learn more about Ashlie’s Embrace on their website, http://www.ashliesembrace.org/ or check out the Be Like the Willow movement on Facebook.