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    Miles’ Mission helps families experiencing the loss of a baby

    Mars Posted on

    ZANESVILLE − Miles’ Mission was born out of tragedy and heartbreak, but its mission is one of comfort and even joy.

    Its goal is to raise awareness about pregnancy and infant loss, provide resources to families, and advocate for standardization of care in hospitals. And, through research, save future babies.

    A father and daughter came together after the family experienced a stillbirth to start a local organization to help others affected by baby loss.

    “It’s mainly about helping families of pregnancies and child losses. We treat miscarriages, families of miscarriages, stillbirths, which is the gestation period of a child from 20 to 39 weeks, and then neonatal losses, that is, children born but do not survive for a period of up to about a year. We also recognize these losses,” explained Dr. Michael Bullock. , president of Miles’ Mission and MKB Ministries, LLC, and senior pastor of Hands of Faith Church in Zanesville.

    Miles’ Mission was founded 17 months ago and is dedicated to Jennifer Bullock-Moore’s stillborn son, Miles.

    Miles’ Mission recently held its second annual Night of Champions gala to raise funds. The event at North Terrace Church of Christ was attended by more than 350 community members, including local officials and Congressman Troy Balderson.

    Miles’ Mission’s current fundraising goal is $100,000, which will continue through 2025. Night of Champions will play an important role in this. To date, the organization has raised more than a third of that goal, Bullock added.

    “It’s fundraising. It’s recognizing our other partners and letting people know what we’re doing, where we’ve been, where we are, what our upcoming projects will be and how they can continue to help us and supporting us,” Bullock said.

    At the gala, he and Bullock-Moore announced two new initiatives: Little Blue Duck and Angel of Hope.

    “The Little Blue Duckling is something that has become part of Miles’ mission,” Bullock noted. “Everyone who has seen us in the community at Lace Up for Kids or Taste and See at North Terrace Church has had a chance to see the blue duck, and we are going to make a book about it next year.

    “The other is called the Angel of Hope,” he continued. “What we’re doing with this is we’re trying to establish a memorial for grieving families here in our community. There isn’t one in the Columbus area or Southeastern Ohio.”

    With more than 150 statues nationwide, Angel Memorials provide grieving families with a dedicated space to grieve and remember their children. The closest Angel of Hope is located in Stow, Ohio, 2.5 hours away.

    Since 2023, Miles’ Mission has expanded its network of affiliates.

    “We have many partners, whether it’s Genesis Hospital, Restorative Health, the Mental Health Recovery Services Board here in Muskingum County and other places outside of our area, like Licking Memorial Hospital in Columbus,” Bullock noted. Many Miles’ Mission partners were represented at the gala.

    “The more partners you have, the more people you can reach and influence, the more lives you can affect, but also the more resources you have, the more you are able to do things to improve their lives, help support them. through their grief.

    Miles’ Mission also hopes to ease the suffering of families through the use of CuddleCots.

    “It’s a cooling cradle, and it allows a stillborn baby to come into the room with the mom. Miles had to go to the morgue, then took him out of the morgue, then took him out arms (by Jennifer Bullock-Moore). loss was constant,” Bullock said.

    CuddleCots can allow mothers to spend valuable time with their babies.

    “With the CuddleCot, the baby can stay in the room until the mother comes out. We were able to raise money to donate CuddleCots to hospitals. We just donated them to Cambridge Hospital. We So we did it in Columbus, at Pickingerton Hospital, and we’ve done eight more across the country,” he added.

    There are 22,000 stillbirths per year in the United States, not counting miscarriages or child losses. By state, Ohio is in the top five. Thus, Miles’ Mission also wishes to invest in better medical equipment and practices.

    Babies in utero can sometimes become tangled in the mother’s umbilical cord or the placenta can detach from the uterine wall. Either can potentially have a negative impact on both mother and child.

    Investing in medical research could improve responses to both situations. In turn, this could save the lives of more mothers and more babies.

    “It saves babies, but it also expands life. It expands opportunity. It expands more opportunities to see life happen. There’s a lot that can be uncovered, and that’s why we’re doing the work that we do,” Bullock noted. .

    “More and more people are recognizing that their neighbor may have lost a child, a family member who hasn’t talked about it, now all of a sudden they can talk about it,” Bullock said. “So this is just one more thing we can do to continue to increase funding for research to find out why these things are happening and how can we help prevent more of them.”

    Mars
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