Husband and wife Tyler and Hilary Cohlan Hughes and baby Carter, who is 13 months old now. The Ridgefielders started a 5K to raise awareness for stillbirth after losing Oliver in 2013, 34 weeks into pregnancy. One in 160 births are stillbirths, according to the Star Legacy Foundation.
On Jan. 14, 2013, Hilary Cohlan Hughes of Ridgefield went to her ob/gyn for a routine 34-week pregnancy checkup.
There was no heartbeat.
“It was a life-changing experience for us,” said Hughes, who was rushed to a hospital where she delivered a stillborn child, Oliver Cohlan Hughes.
It was devastating. She was healthy, did not smoke or drink and had until that point had an uneventful pregnancy.
“It’s a horrible thing, especially at that point in the pregnancy when you think you are through with the scary part,” she said.
In Oliver’s memory, Hilary and her husband, Tyler, have organized their first Oliver’s 5K fund-raising walk/run for stillbirth awareness and research, to be held May 2 beginning at 9 a.m. at Meadow Pond School, Route 123, in nearby South Salem, N.Y. Proceeds will benefit the Star Legacy Foundation.
One in 160 births in the United States are stillbirths, a figure that has not changed in several decades, according to the Star Legacy Foundation. That’s 26,000 pregnancies a year ending in stillbirth in the United States. More than one-third of these deaths are never explained. To compare, sudden infant death syndrome takes the lives of 2,500 babies each year in the United States and gets far more notice in the public awareness.
Star Legacy is a grassroots organization started by a nurse based in Eden Prairie, Minn. It does a lot of great work to educate doctors, Hilary Hughes said.
“We want to look into causes. There’s not enough research in this area,” she said. “Stillbirths are what a lot of people think is rare, but it is 1 in 160 pregnancies, statistically. We were not aware of any of these things. Nobody thinks it actually happens with all the modern medicine.”
The organization for the run is going well. Ninety people have already signed up, and the couple is close to its goal of raising $20,000.
“We have two weeks left, we’re hoping for at least 100 people, we’re trying to build the event up,” Hilary said. They have babies in strollers and people as old as their 70s ready to raise funds.
“You can get great groups of people out there with a great time to support a great cause,” said Tyler.
The couple moved to Ridgefield last fall. They have been together since meeting at the University of Vermont in the previous decade.
She is a school social worker and he is in sales and marketing with Pepsico.
“We love the town. It’s a great community, with lots of family and friends,” she said. “Lots of stuff is accessible, and we like outdoorsy stuff, so there’s that to do and there are restaurants.”
They hope to attract more to support their cause. They’ll be in it with their only child, Carter, aged 13 months.
“We hope to see ourselves growing from here, to continue to raise more money and have fun,” she said.
To enter the race, sign up at www.starlegacyfoundation.org/event/oliver/