A Langley, B.C., couple is reminding people to hold their loved ones close while they can after the tragic death of their 11-month-old son
“He was our entire world from day one especially with COVID it was just the three of us we just bonded incredibly and he was our world,” Andrew Ellerman, the boy’s father, told Global News.
“It’s absolutely shattered our family, our whole lives revolved around Wesley.”
Ellerman described his and his wife Bethany’s son as a happy boy who always made neighbours smile while out for walks.
“He would be laughing and giggling; he got so excited for the little things and was always happy, jumping and smiling,” he said.
Tragically the sound of his laugh now only exists on videos. In the early morning hours of April 10, the 11-month-old died in his sleep.
Wesley was found unresponsive just hours after the family had been told not to bring him in to hospital.
“It went from zero to 100 while he was sleeping,” Ellerman said, adding, “I wouldn’t wish that on anybody.
“It’s just so scary that you put your child down, you think the fever is under control, check on him every hour and then one of the check-ins he’s not breathing and he doesn’t have a pulse,” Ellerman said.
It began after Wesley developed his first-ever fever. Bethany, a Vancouver Police Department officer, and Andrew, a police dispatcher, say they called 811.
“We inquired about taking him to hospital and they said if his fever is coming down, just monitor it and check every hour,” Andrew said, adding Wesley’s fever did in fact go down and overnight hourly check-ins went well, until 4 a.m.
“Bethany just screamed at the top of her lungs and said, ‘Oh my God Andrew’ — it’s something I’m reliving in my head — and I went sprinting down hallway,” he said.
That scream now haunts him at night, as the couple spend their days waiting for autopsy results. They still have no answers on what killed their otherwise healthy boy.
“Especially the more recent photos where he’s older, they’re hard to look at,” he said.
Emily Jeknavorian, Wesley’s godmother, said the tragedy has made her more cautious with her own baby boy.
“It’s such a freak occurrence and that just made me paranoid and it’s changed my parenting and I’m nervous as any mom would be,” Jeknavorian said, adding she’s doing all she can to help her friends since getting phone call that changed all of their lives.
“I got a phone call at 5 a.m. off Andrew’s cell and he doesn’t usually call me. I could just hear Bethany screaming, ‘Wesley died, Wesley died.’ It was just the most horrific phone call to ever get.”
“It was such an honour to spend 11 months with Wesley.”
Jeknavorian said the tragedy serves as a reminder to appreciate every moment with loved ones.
“I just keep asking how could this happen to these amazing people that have literally dedicated their careers to helping others and then now they’ve had their worst tragedy of their life I thought how are they going to survive,” she said.
Bethany and Emily were childhood friends, sharing milestone moments in life, including giving birth to their sons eight months apart.
The nightmare, she said, is being made a little easier thanks to an outpouring of support and donations from the community as the grieving couple remains off from work.
“The reason I’m in my profession and Bethany is in hers is we want to help people and give back as much as we can so I think keeping that in mind and keeping that as our mindset will help us,” Andrew said.
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