Wave of light: Community unites to remember pregnancy and infant losses

TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — The community united Tuesday night for "Wave of Light," an annual luminary-lighting event across the country honoring pregnancy losses and infants who have passed away.

The event is led by Becky Heral, a nurse who has been coordinating Wave of Light in Tucson for 14 years after two of her loved ones lost an infant.

"When I first moved to Arizona, my very first friend here, I was with her for her entire pregnancy," Heral said. "She delivered a very healthy baby girl, and about two weeks later, she passed away."

Heral added: "Quickly right after that, my brother lost his baby. He was stillborn."

It's not uncommon in the U.S. where approximately one in four pregnancies end in miscarriage, generally before 28 weeks, and 2.6 million babies are stillborn, half of whom die in childbirth, according to the World Health Organization.

That's what led Heral to memoralize Peyton and Harrison with luminaries during Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day, and raise awareness of the emotional challenges faced by those who have lost a pregnancy or infant.

Now, fourteen years later, Peyton and Harrison's luminaries sit aside 1,300 other babies.

"It's been my mission to remember every single baby that's passed away because it's such a taboo topic. No one really talks about it. No one knows how to react when someone loses a baby," Heral said.

That's why Wave of Light participant Sabrina Galpin said, having a space to talk about it helps her feel less alone and isolated.

“It helps you not to have those feelings of, you know, self guilt," Galpin said.

Galpin was joined by dozens of families who are also decorating and lighting a luminary bag in honor of a loss like the death of a newborn, a stillbirth, or a miscarriage.

“We went in for an ultrasound at 12 weeks and found that she had passed at 10," Galpin said. "So, we never really got to see her. We never got to know her. But we remember her every year, really every day.”

And, so are dozens of other families who also attended the event to remember their pregnancy or infant loss.

"Just seeing all these lights out here, it makes your heart hurt a little bit, but it makes you feel good," Galpin said.