Community Partners 1
If there is one thing we have learned over the past 12 years, is that we can’t do it alone. After losing Brianna and Brandon’s diagnosis, we had several organizations reach out to help. Our Church and its members were there to help navigate all of the difficult decisions we had to make. We had other non profits that experienced a loss give us advice and help explore what we were feeling. Still yet we had others provide financial assistance when we needed it most.
Our goal for these series of BLOGs is to shine a light on organizations that are doing great work for the community. Some of these you may have known about and some will be brand new. Either way this is an opportunity to give other non profits even more credit for their work. This will be the first of several organizations that we work with and want showcase them.
The first in this series is the Live Like Jake Foundation. You can find out all you need to know on their website LiveLikeJake.com. Please take the time to visit their site and explore more of what they do for the community.
The words below are from the website above. Nobody could tell their story better than they could. We ask that you read them and listen to their story. If you find yourself in this situation or know of someone we are more than confident they can help you in your time of need.
The Story Behind Jake’s Passing
A parent’s worse nightmare…
It was supposed to be a fun Thanksgiving weekend trip that started on Thursday, November 28, 2013 at Keri’s father’s house in Orlando where we ate lots of turkey and stuffing then stayed the night at a hotel on International Drive. We woke up and had a big breakfast at Denny’s with my dad and step mom. We were going to go play some mini golf but got stuck in serious traffic on I-drive so we decided to skip it. We then headed over to New Smyrna Beach where Roarke’s sister Robin and her husband Jim live to finish off our Thanksgiving weekend. We woke up Saturday morning November 30, 2013 and had a great day. Robin and Jim went and got their beautiful Christmas tree and we just played with all of the kids. Then just after 6 pm the last words ANY parent ever wants to hear “Where is Jake?” Keri was in the other room nursing our precious little daughter Julia who was 12 weeks old at the time when we heard those words that have forever changed our lives. Jake slipped out the back door in the pitch dark and fell off the dock into the intracoastal. There was so much screaming going on because we knew he was in there but it was so dark we couldn’t see anything. We have never felt so helpless in our entire life knowing that our baby needed us more than ever and we couldn’t save him. Roarke and Jim were going up and down the docks on the Jet Ski until finally Jim found Jake and the ambulance quickly took him to the hospital but they were not able to revive him. Roarke and I were in the room with him while they tried so hard to bring him back to us. We still can remember EVERY second so clearly and screaming for our baby to come back all the while knowing that he had gone straight to Heaven.
I hope that no parent EVER has to go through what we have gone through and that is why we are so passionate about drowning prevention and also helping other families who have either lost a child or have a child that has had a near drowning and is in hospital care. We wanted to share our story because we know a lot of you only know that Jake drowned but didn’t know how and where. We do not own a pool and do not live on the water so we weren’t in a real hurry with the swim lessons although he did take lessons over the summer. He wasn’t really taking to it and we were just going to try again next year when he was a little older and more cooperative. Our situation is different than most drowning cases because it was not a pool so whether his life would have been spared if he had done ISR lessons we will never know and that still makes us so sad every day thinking of it. We beg of you if you have a child that does not know how to self-rescue and is over 6 months old please please please get them in lessons. Also when you are on vacation in a different environment please be aware of your surroundings at ALL times because it only takes a few seconds for them to sneak away. We have gone to Robin and Jim’s home countless times with Jake and although we were always nervous of the water and made him wear a life jacket while on the dock, we NEVER imagined he would go out there by himself especially at night.
Thank you everyone for all of your prayers, love and support during this time. Please share this story with as many people as you can because if it saves just ONE life then we will know this is our purpose in life and why God chose us to carry out this mission and save other babies.
Love you all!
Keri and Roarke Morrison
We couldn’t possibly do this organization or any other organization justice here in a short Blog. Please go to their website and support them if you can.