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mokenamessengerdaily.com life & arts
the mokena messenger | January 23, 2020 | 27
Woman’s grief turns into
inspiration to help others cope
3
T.J. Kremer III, Editor
When Rachael and David
Fedor lost their son
Jason in May 2010, the
grief was almost unbearable.
Jason was born with a
rare condition called Trisomy
13, a chromosomal
condition associated with
severe intellectual disability
and physical abnormalities
in many parts
of the body, according
to the National Institute
of Health. Only 5-10
percent of children born
with this condition survive
past their first year
of life.
Jason lived to be only 6
weeks old.
“After he passed it was
really hard on our family,”
Rachael said. “We
had our 3-year-old son,
who all of a sudden had a
brother and then all of a
sudden he’s gone.”
And that’s when the anger
set in.
Rachael began attending
bereavement counseling,
which helped
some, but something was
still lacking on her path
to finding some kind of
peace.
“As I was going I kept
saying, ‘I want to do
more. This can’t be the
end of my story,’” she
said.
It was the bereavement
coordinator who told Rachael
to “turn your anger
into something good, turn
it into something beautiful.”
“I will never forget
that because that was, I
think, the stepping stone I
needed. I needed to find a
way to turn my anger and
sadness into something
more,” Rachael said.
And so Rachael began
collecting materials she
had received after Jason’s
death from friends and
family and she put them
in boxes. Then she took
those boxes and offered
them to hospice workers
to pass along to other
families who had lost or
were in the process of
losing a child much too
soon.
With that gesture,
Heavenly Brothers NFP
was born.
On Jason’s first birthday,
Rachael delivered six
of the boxes; today, Heavenly
Brothers has handed
out more than 1,100
boxes via approximately
15 hospitals, women’s
centers and hospice centers,
as well as individual
requests that are sent directly
to the nonprofit organization.
The boxes are free of
charge and include items
such as candles, books,
seeds to plant in remembrance
of the child, music
and special keepsake statues
to help others cope
with their loss and remind
them that there can be a
path toward inner peace.
But Rachael didn’t stop
there. She also started a
group for other mothers
to meet and share their
feelings together.
“I wanted more than
just sending out a box; I
wanted to create a friendship
or a place for people
to come and feel safe as
they grow through loss,”
she said.
Rachael said that creating
those bonds with
other families also helped
strengthen her bond with
her faith.
“My faith grew more
after I lost my son,” she
said. “And one of the reasons,
I feel, is because
without knowing there’s
hope, that God does hold
him in heaven with him,
then what’s the point of
everything.
“Originally, yeah, I
blamed God. I questioned
him. I was angry with
him. I had all that anger
and I didn’t know what
to do with it. And I gave
it to God. … He took that
anger and he made me see
that his goal was not to
take my son at 6-and-ahalf
weeks and bring him
to heaven, but his goal
is to take me through the
loss and bring me hope
knowing that he is healing
my broken heart. …
Without faith, I wouldn’t
know how to deal with
loss.”
Rachael said she plans
to continue reaching out to
more hospitals and families
in order to see Heavenly
Brothers grow “and
to continue to see more
families find comfort in
that and finding a way to
give back to others.”
In previous years,
Heavenly Brothers has
held an annual fundraiser;
however, this year Heavenly
Brothers is teaming
up with Emily and Frank
Smith’s Stephen Smith
Family Fun Run at Union
Creek Park in Tinley Park
May 2, which will also
mark the ninth anniversary
of Jason’s death.
For more information on
Heavenly Brothers NFP,
visit heavenly brothers
boxes.com.
Mokena resident Rachael Fedor sits with a photo of her late son Jason, who died
at 6 weeks old. Fedor now runs Heavenly Brothers NFP, an organization that
creates free boxes for memories for families who have lost a child. T.J. Kremer
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