Around 175 people gathered for the third annual Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Walk in Kinsmen Park on Saturday morning.
“Obviously there’s a little bit of sadness with the day, because even though we have a great turnout, there’s a lot of people missing,” Empty Arms vice-president Briana Koop said.
READ MORE: Saskatoon perinatal loss support service guiding couples through their grief
All the funds from the walk go towards Empty Arms Perinatal Loss Support Services, a Saskatoon non-profit organization which provides services to help parents and families get through the loss of a baby.
Kareen Capay and her husband were at Saturday’s walk. Five months ago, Capay went for her regular prenatal appointment.
“I was pregnant with our second son and I was 36 weeks along, so I was full term,” Capay explained.
That’s when her doctor told her something she will never forget.
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WATCH BELOW: Kareen Capay on her pregnancy loss
The Capays lost their son on May 13 and Empty Arms was at the hospital to help them cope with the sudden loss.
“We went home with empty arms. Literally, we went home without our son,” Capay said.
Capay explained how grateful she was that Empty Arms took pictures, handprints and other keepsakes of her son.
“She sent us home with a box of all kinds of memories we made in those three to four hours we had with our little guy,” she said.
“My experience is different than maybe the other woman, or other man, or the grandma or the grandpa. But at the same time, we’re all kind of connected by this grief, but at the same there’s hope,” Capay said.
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This week alone, Empty Arms attended six birth losses at Royal University Hospital (RUH).
“That doesn’t include early miscarriages – which women have at home often and do so in silence – because they don’t think there’s going to be a supportive community.”
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