 Page best viewed with your Screen Resolution set at 800x600. Many people have written asking if they can link to Ethan's Page. Please, do so. Print it out, send it on, pass it out, help me get the message out. Love, Gramma Mae NOTE: All underlined words/sentences are clickable links! Also a complete listing of links at the bottom   My name is Diane, better known as 'Gramma Mae'. Ethan is my grandson. His story is a tragic one. I hope to get a message out to everyone who has a baby. I hope Ethan's story brings tears to your eyes and an ache to your heart, and I hope you send this page to everyone you know. Maybe, just maybe, a life may be saved. Ethan was born May 8, 1998 weighing 6 lbs, and was 19 inches long. Ethan was a happy baby. He loved the Toy Story movie, he would watch it every day. Now he lies in a grave with 'Woody', his toy story guy that his Grampa got him. Grampa doesn't get to buy him any more toys. On 1-5-99, Grampa got a phone call from Ethan's Mommy, "Ethan's dead daddy", the sobs coming from deep within a Mother's soul. Let me tell you, it is a phone call you never want to receive!! 
Kerrie (Ethan's Mommy) had gotten off work that night. She went into the bedroom to change her clothes. "I should check on Ethan", she thought, but he was sleeping and didn't want to wake him. Rick (Ethan's Daddy) was in the living room watching the news. Kerrie went to the bathroom and suddenly heard a terrifying scream, "Oh God, no...Oh God, no". Rushing into the living room, there lay Ethan. His crib sheet wrapped tightly around his little neck, his tiny body blue and lifeless. Kerrie picked up her perfect little boy, frantically patting him on the back saying, "breathe baby, breathe". 911 was called, neighbors tried CPR, the ambulance came. Ethan like most babies, was active. He pulled his crib sheet off his bed, and somehow rolled around, got it around his neck and strangled(or suffocated) to [*See Update Below] death. His is not the first crib sheet death. Good Housekeeping magazine tells about 5 babies that died in 1998. There you will find a list of sheets that can withstand an 8 pound pull test and are considered "safe". Dateline told Marie Reen's Story!!! She also lost her son due to a crib sheet that didn't fit. She now manufactures full cover velcro sheets. BUY ONE!! A woman named Kimberly also lost her son due to a crib sheet that didn't fit. It was a Gerber sheet. She has sued the Gerber Company. I have had countless e-mails of near death, or close calls. Why are manufacturers making crib sheets that don't fit, that babies can pull off and die? Why do stores continue to carry unsafe bedding for our babies? Let me just ask you, "Do your crib sheets fit? Will your family be next?" With all my heart, I hope not. I never held Ethan, talked to him, played with him, but I did love him A LOT and this is the worst hurt I could ever imagine. Fix those crib sheets, sew elastic to hold them on the mattress. Make a complete cover that slips over the mattress. Buy only the top five that Good Housekeeping has listed on their page. Don't put it off!!!! You see, I knew about the crib sheet deaths, I KNEW!!! I saw the Dateline program with Marie Reen after she and her family had lost little Jimmy. Before my 3 grandbabies were born. I planned on doing something about their sheets so it couldn't happen to one of them. But I put it off. John got back from Oklahoma 1-12-99. This is Ethan's last picture, taken 2 hours before he died. Cute 'lil fella!! And I miss him!! Applet Image By Elizabeth.  Thank you very much to Danny Hahlbohm ©2000 All graphics and images. All rights reserved. None of these (Danny's) graphics may be duplicated, copied, uploaded to another server or linked to without express written consent of Danny Hahlbohm. A memory page for our Little Angels that Jesus Loves. E-mail me to add your Angel. Ethan's Memorial Fund was closed on 3-16-99. Total donations were $460.00 Our thanks to: Bonnie & Rich, Ron & Betty, Lilly B, Steven & Kristina, Lisa, all our friends and family!!! Special thanks to the anonymous donation of $200.00 that was paid directly to the funeral home. There was also an article on Ethan's death and crib sheet safety in the January 11, 1999 issue of the Skagit Valley Herald.  Front page news...photo shows how we put elastic on my grandson Corbin's sheets so he couldn't pull them off. Thank you everyone for your mail and support it is appreciated beyond words. A special thank you to Sonya, and my wonderful friend Bonnie!!! Please go to Page Two for the rest of Ethan's Story. Ethan's Webrings And Awards Page *Update: 1-18-99 Ethan's death has been ruled a "SIDS" death, with the crib sheet being a contributing factor". His crib sheet was wrapped around his neck THREE times!!! His was a Sudden Infant Death, and the crib sheet caused it. How many babies have died from SIDS and yet had a 'contributing factor?? If you have a baby, SIDS is a MUST READ site for you and your baby's caretakers!!!! Please lets do all we can in memory of all our little angels up in Heaven. And keep the ones here safe!!! 9-28-2001 Another e-mail from a Gramma In part it reads: "Initially we suspected Brayden's death to have been by suffocation. My daughter found him with his baby blanket almost stuck to his face. It was one of those heavy fleece blankets that you see for sporting teams...only in this case it was teddy bears and meant to be for an infant. We suspected this blanket right away....we even held a hair dryer right up to the blanket and little if any air came through. But, a week after his death we received the autopsy report saying he had not suffocated, but had died of SIDS." (And,) "I am writing to find out if you are aware of the deaths of any other babies this way and if you can put out the warning on your site that babies are not to be put in their cribs with any blankets if it can at all be helped. Well Karla, and everyone, the warning is on the site. It is recommended that you put your babies to bed with just warm sleepers on. No blankets, pillows, stuffed animals, no tiny blankets even. Babies from age 4 months up to over 2 years old have died because of all those items in their cribs. I have not heard of any near misses nor deaths because of bumper pads, but it has been recommended not to use those either. I have had countless e-mails of near misses from many, many people. I have a list sent to me, of many deaths attributed to sheets and blankets. Again, please make your baby's crib a safe place to be. Read about suffocation on the SIDS site. There are two links below to the SIDS site. Marie Reen sent me this..... paul harvey who does a nationally syndicated radio talk show spoke about a study that british doctors did they are reviewing all the sids cases in england because of possible other factors that were involved apparently if any amount of blood was found in a childs lungs the child did not just stop breathing there was something involved that caused suffocation it came out in THE JOURNAL OF CLINICAL PATHOLOGY THE ARTICLE IN TITLED "INTRA ALVEOLA HEMMORAGE IN SIDS A CAUSE FOR CONCERN" IT'S IN VOLUME 52 PG 581 B-7 AND PG 553 B-4
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