Immortality means unending life or enduring fame. Well, perhaps we do a little of this at SentForever as we allow people to send messages or images of themselves and their loved ones that will last forever. 

We read about an artist who uses the ashes of loved ones her clients have lost in the paintings she does. Val Thompson from Ash2Art adds the secret ingredient to her paint to create a unique, personalised and lasting tribute. She just mixes it in, adding another dash ‘to help build up a bit of texture on the canvas’.

This is a wonderful concept as it is a highly personalized and very meaningful way of capturing an image that means a lot to the person and yet which is also so intimate, in that it contains the lost one’s ashes.

One client lost her husband from a heart attack the day after returning from a beach holiday. Val took some of the ashes and created three wonderful beach scenes to capture the last memories of the lady’s husband

We love this idea as it helps someone’s memory live on after their death in much the same way that our remembrance messages do.

Mother's Day message

Mother’s Day is on 22nd March in the UK but for some it can be a very sad day indeed. For people who have lost their mothers, it becomes a day of remembrance – and unfortunately, this is going to happen to all of us eventually as part of the cycle of life.

But what about the mums who have lost a child? This should be a day of joy and celebration but becomes a day of anguish and mourning instead. Once you’ve been a mum, you always will be a mum, forever, and that fact can never change.

The Child Bereavement Charity is promoting this fact in the UK due to the approach of Mother’s Day – and a wonderful job they are doing too. Prince William recently became patron of the charity and spoke about how ‘Mother’s Day makes me feel empty’ referring to his late mother, Diana.

Already at SentForever, we have transmitted our first Mother’s Day messages this year – including very special remembrance ones. So if you’ve lost someone who is very special to you on Mother’s Day, an eternal message may be a way for you to say some things that aren’t possible to say by any other means.

Our messages are sent into space using one of British Telecom’s specially modified, high power radio transmitters. This enables us to transmit your Mother’s Day messages so they will travel through space and time for the rest of eternity. Remember Mother’s Day this year by sending a very special SentForever Mother’s Day message.

As part of the Day of the Dead festival on 2^nd November, SentForever are transmitting some memorials from www.muchloved.com into deep space so that they will exist for all eternity.

The Day of the Dead occurs on 2^nd November every year and this is also known as All Souls Day in many western religions. It originated in Central and Southern America many years ago but similar events are celebrated in many African and Asian countries as well as some European countries. It’s more of a joyous occasion as opposed to the more somber ways that western cultures observe memories of the deceased.

MuchLoved was set up by Jonathan Davies in 1995 after his younger brother suddenly died while at university at the age of 21. It is a registered charitable trust and allows people to create online memorials to individuals who have died. It’s a lovely site that allows you to create a memorial to the life of a lost loved one that can be kept private or can be made public so that others can view the memorial. 

SentForever will transmit a number of the MuchLoved online memorials on Sunday morning. Some of the memorials are for specific individuals while others are for more than one individual. One site id for little angels, children who passed on at a very early age. This is a particular special and moving memorial which celebrates the short time that these loved infants spent with their parents.

By Chris 

This post follows on from Stephanie’s recent post Remembering the Lost Babies a few weeks back. 

Some years ago I had the saddest dream about a baby. Usually I forget my dreams but that morning I remembered it and so I wrote it down. As you start to write a dream down, more and more details are remembered and the dream started to get longer and longer. I wanted to capture this dream in as few words as possible, so this is what I wrote: 

A young baby always knows if it is going to die that night. So when its parents put it to bed it cries and cries to tell them not to leave it alone as it is going to die – but of course the parents don’t understand what the baby is saying. That night the child dies, thinking that its parents didn’t love it enough to save it. 

Now I don’t believe this is true for a moment – it was just a dream I captured. A very moving dream. 

Parents who have lost an older child say that the important thing is to ensure that the child is remembered. That they existed on this earth and they did this, achieved that, and their lives are often captured in many different memories and photos over the years. 

However, when a baby passes on its very different. A baby isn’t really in a position to give the parents anything that is material – it’s usually the parents giving to the child – care, attention, toys, but above all else, love. 

There is a saying that we should live each day as if it were our last. Well perhaps every day we should love our children as if it were their last day – but in a positive sense of course. Let them really know how much they are cherished and loved. 

For the lost babies, this can be done too. In our hearts, our thoughts, our actions and our prayers. And maybe in a special way too by sending a message into eternity. Because, when the baby’s parents and near relatives pass on, how will that child be remembered in the future? 

By sending a message into eternity, that message will exist forever. Your love that is captured in that message will live forever, their memory will live forever. 

We can help ensure your lost baby is remembered forever. And for those babies that are alive today, well, love them just that little bit extra today. Take care.

Baby scan

By Stephanie

October 15^th is Pregnancy and Infant Loss Day and it’s a day that allows us to mourn and celebrate and acknowledge the brief time that some infants have spent with their mothers or parents. It has been created as a remembrance day to promote support, education and awareness for grieving parents. 

Excerpt from http://www.october15th.com/  ”too many families grieve in silence, sometimes never coming to terms with their loss. Our goal is to help others relate to our loss, know what to say do or not say, not do and to help families live with their loss, not “get over” their loss. 

The following is an excerpt from http://www.bearsforbereavedmommies.org/ 

Why a national day of remembrance and a month of awareness?

Why does anyone need to be made aware of such a subject as pregnancy and infant loss? Why plan activities aimed at community awareness? 

Pregnancy and Infant loss occur much more often than people might believe. Close to 2000 families are affected by this tragedy each year. Miscarriage occurs in 20 to 30 % of all confirmed pregnancies. 75 to 80 % of miscarriages occur within the first 12 weeks of conception, sometimes so early that a woman may not even know she is pregnant, it is therefore believed that 50% of all conceptions result in miscarriage. Ectopic pregnancy occurs in 2 to 3 % of all conceptions. Molar pregnancy occurs in 1 out of 1000 pregnancies, 4 of every 1000 births ends with a stillborn baby and almost 1 of every 100 births results in a baby who dies during the first 28 days of life (not including SIDS which occurs 2 per 100). Chances are, we all know someone who has been affected by pregnancy or infant loss. 

Stillbirth is one of the most misunderstood “accidents,” often viewed as an unfortunate, but minor, nonevent by those outside the family. Not everyone understands the emotional investment parents put into their unborn children, in some cases even before that child is conceived. The hopes, dreams, plans, love and anticipation are real, even if no one has yet seen this child. Families who suffer this tragedy need sensitive caregivers, understanding friends and supportive family members. Yes, awareness is important. A supportive environment can make all the difference in how parents incorporate this loss, this precious child, into their lives in a healthy manner.

Some ideas suggested by www.october15th.com for the month of October

• Tying pink or blue ribbons around trees in yards, neighborhoods, and parks.
• Place signs and banners in your yard, neighborhoods, and parks.
• Contact your local radio stations and television news stations to have them announce that October is Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month.
• Write an article and submit it to your local newspapers.
• Sponsor flowers in memory of your baby in a church service or hospital.
• Have a t-shirt made that says I have an Angel, and have your child’s name put on it.

Ideas for October 15^th as suggested by www.october15th.com 

• Light candles and display them in your windows.
• Contact local Radio and News stations and have them announce that it is October 15th, Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day.
• Sponsor a candle lighting ceremony in a park, church, or local hospital.

Another suggestion is to send a message into space where it will travel for all eternity. This could be a message from the parents for the lost child. This is also a sensitive way for friends and families to let the parents know that they understand their loss. We know that finding the right words to say can be hard, but say it anyway. On our website we have some ideas of messages which you might find appropriate to send for this sensitive occasion.

Some mums have sent pictures of the initial scans, others have sent belly photos, and others have sent photos of the babies which we can also transmit into space. 

So if you know someone who has lost a baby – no matter at what stage of the pregnancy, think of them during the month of October. 

I am closing out with the following excerpt from http://www.bearsforbereavedmommies.org/

Why have an awareness month?

• Because life, even the tiniest life, is special
• Because life, even the tiniest life, must be remembered
• Because parents want to remember
• Because grieving parents need sensitive doctors, nurses, clergy, funeral directors and families
• Because the larger community needs to be reminded that pregnancy and infant losses occur often
• Because the larger community needs to know how to help grieving families
• Because the larger community needs to be reminded that life, even the tiniest life, is special

Why would someone want to send a message into eternity? Well, here are my top three reasons for sending an eternal message:

1. Remembrance – when you feel the need to talk to someone dear to you who has passed on. When you have to write something down, it helps to clarify your thoughts. Some people talk to their dear ones through prayer, which generally isn’t just a rambling monologue but a structured and purposeful way of communicating. If you are a more spiritual person and want to send something special that will travel through the heavens for the rest of eternity and that you feel will be close to your lost one, that’s a wonderful reason.

2. Birth – when a child is born, our natural association may be that it is a new child for its parents. However, if you think about it differently, a child being born is actually a much bigger miracle, as it is the moment when a new soul (or spirit) enters the Universe. Maybe this new child will do something really amazing in its lifetime that will benefit the whole of mankind. Who knows? But a SentForever birth message welcoming this new baby into our Earth, into our lives, and into the Universe as a whole is a very special way to celebrate this occasion.

3. Marriage – as our vows often refer to the relationship lasting forever. Why not transmit your wedding vows into eternity to celebrate this special day? It’s a fact that a large percentage of marriages do fail. But by thinking back to the magic and special feelings that existed on the wedding day, and also to the fact that those wedding vows that were said are travelling through the Universe for all eternity (and that they can never be recalled), would this help the couple to remember the feelings when they got married in the first place?

What are your top reasons for sending a message? Let me know and we may be able to make it happen for you.