Cordero Family, My deepest condolences to your entire family. I too lost my son Brody to SIDS in August 2009 and my heart really goes out to you all. After reading the article about your daughter in the Washington Post I have wanted to reach out to you. I hope you have found a positive outlet for yourselves. My husband and I have teamed up with another family to raise funds for SIDS research and infant sleep safety awareness. We would love to welcome you to join our efforts if this is something you would like to do. Please email me if you have time. sunn0782@msn.com. Our public letter is included below: Dear Friends and Family, In early August of 2009 while having dinner with our son Brody and some friends, we heard the horrific news of the passing of Taylor Cain Murphy, son of Jason and Lynsie Murphy and nephew of Brian Murphy. They were hosting a charity golf tournament in honor of Taylor and I had just received a Facebook posting on my phone announcing the event. I urged Mike to play in the event in support of the Murphys. I just kept uttering the words: “I don’t know what I would do if something like that were to happen to Brody. I don’t know what we would do if we ever lost him." On August 7, 2009, our beloved Brody passed away peacefully in his sleep. It was exactly six days after finding out what had happened to Taylor. In an instant, we knew all too well what the Murphys have had to endure. I remember picking Brody up and thinking that it was all one big nightmare – a nightmare that stemmed from that one conversation we had six days earlier. It took a blur of events – paramedics in our house, a trip to the hospital, a flood of nurses and doctors, family and friends, to realize that the nightmare would never end. To tell the story of Brody’s passing would not be fair without sharing with you what a joy he was to everyone who had the pleasure of meeting our spunky little guy. He had an amazing little twinkle in his eyes – a twinkle that is still embedded in the memories of those who love him. He had quite a little self-confident attitude and look on his face at times, but when he smiled, he lit up the sky. He had the strongest little legs that you could possibly find on a five month old and we are certain that he’s getting red cards on a soccer field up in the Heavens. Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) and Sudden Unexpected Infant Death (SUID) take the lives of young and almost always healthy babies from their parents with no warning. There is no sickness, no preparation time. When you hear that nothing in life is worse than burying one’s own child, there are no truer words. The pain for us was instant, for us, our families, our friends, and will last in some form for the rest of our lives. Our lives collided with the Murphys on August 7, 2009 in a way that is larger than life. We share a unique bond of pain, understanding, and perseverance. We have a deep desire to honor our sons’ lives and to prevent other parents from joining our circle of loss. They inspired us to host our first tournament and to find a positive outlet to create a legacy for our son. It is only fitting that we join forces and thus, have created a foundation honoring our sons – Playmates In Heaven Foundation (for SIDS/SUID research and infant sleep safety awareness). We are happy to report that we have officially been incorporated by the State of Virginia and have filed for status as a 501c3 nonprofit organization. Funds raised in our foundation will continue to assist Drs. Hauck and Sales and their new genetics physician, Dr. Ellis at the University of Virginia Research Hospital in their efforts to prepare a sample study to present to the National Institute of Health for a large-scale grant. We are excited to report that the funds raised in last year’s tournament were directly used to purchase a new refrigeration system and back-up generators which will allow the doctors to transport and store valuable SIDS/SUID and placebo genome samples for their studies. Funds raised by our foundation will also support efforts to re-launch a back-to-sleep and infant sleep safety awareness campaign in hopes that we can prevent environmental risks which contribute to the sudden and unexpected death of infants. By doing so, we hope to prevent even one parent from the horrific experience of losing a beloved child. Please join us in our efforts as we journey to "Rid SIDS!" Thank you for your support for our family and for helping us honor our beloved sons, Brody King and Taylor Murphy. With Love, Sunny King Executive Director Playmates In Heaven Foundation "To live in the hearts we leave behind is not to die." - Thomas Campbell
