Rhett’s Story

At our tournament this year we will have a baby remembrance of babies that our foundation has helped, or that we have met along our journey of establishing and running the foundation.  We believe it is important to share their stories and say their names.

We are remembering our son, Rhett Matthew Sullivan today and every day. Establishing this foundation, and running it day to day, is a constant reminder of him being gone. We’ve always talked about the importance of remembering our lost babies and saying their names…not being afraid to talk about infant loss. Rhett will always be loved and missed, but we’re proud to maintain his legacy through the work of the foundation. This is Rhett’s story….

Rhett Matthew Sullivan

July 3, 2017- September 22, 2017

“Rhett was our third child and first baby boy. Rhett was such a sweet baby.  He would love to watch and listen to his sisters, Hudson and Emory, play, sing, dance whatever they were doing he wanted to be there. He was such a healthy baby almost doubled his birth weight by 2 months and just the perfect fit for our family. On September 20th we took him to his sitter’s house and kissed him goodbye, not knowing that would be the last time we saw him as our active 2.5 month old baby boy. I got a call that morning saying Rhett had stopped breathing and he was being rushed by ambulance to the hospital. The nurses and doctors finally got his heart beating and pulse back, unfortunately it was determined he had gone 45 minutes to an 1 hour without consistent oxygen outside of the cpr efforts. Due to lasting effects of not having oxygen for so long, Rhett passed away on September 22, 2017 at 8:29 pm.

I just miss him being here and being a part our life physically.  I feel I missed out on raising Rhett, I missed out on seeing Ryan raise Rhett. I think daily of all the milestones Rhett would have reached by now, crawling, walking, talking, saying mommy….

I handle grief through any type of distraction and keeping busy.  However, there are always those triggers that come of out nowhere and then you are forced to think about the impact of losing Rhett and how our lives are different now. Even though these triggers are unwelcome at times, it is nice to also think about and let out some pent up emotions.  It is so important to give yourself the grace to grieve, as it is not only needed it is necessary. We will always love Rhett and in turn we will always grieve him.

Emotionally, it is devastating and it something you don’t fully understand until you have been faced with it.  We felt lost and didn’t know what to do.  Death is not something society wants to talk about much less talk about a baby dieing. But thankfully we found friends, family and other loss parents who would listen to us, say Rhett’s name, ask about him and ask us how we were and weren’t afraid of hearing the real answer of not doing well.    

Financially, no one is prepared or expecting to pay the costs of a funeral after just having a baby.  We were very fortunate that we had family and friends that rallied around us financially. We in turn used most of those funds to start the Rhett Sullivan Foundation.”

~Rhett’s Mommy