About Us

Finding out I was pregnant was the most joyous day of my life. My husband Mark and I had married 6 months prior, and we were so excited to add a baby to our new life together. I was 24 years old, healthy, and had a very normal pregnancy. At our 19-week ultrasound, we got the news we were expecting a boy, and we got to see his little face, hands, and feet. But just moments after we left, we got an urgent call to come back the next day for an appointment with a specialist. All night we worried about what might be wrong with our baby, but how, no matter what, we would love him and take care of him. It never occurred to me that our baby might die. It’s just not something I had ever heard of. Hours later, our world came crumbling down when the doctor told us our son, whom we had named Joseph Thomas, had a rare and fatal brain abnormality and he would die. The days that followed were a blur. We faced the decision of where to bury him, whether or not to have a funeral, and tried to cope with the fact that our baby was going to die. After many days of preterm labor, I delivered our tiny baby boy. He lived for just a short time and died in my arms. The ache in my heart and the feeling of having empty arms was so overwhelming. I came home and immediately looked online for support. It was difficult to find. But I found a local support group I started to attend. Without that, I would have been lost. But in the days to come, I realized I needed to do something to help others who had lost a baby, and I needed to do something to honor Joseph’s memory. Thus, OC Walk to Remember and Forever Footprints was born. I’ve gone on to have three living children, and I also experienced an early miscarriage. The organization is a huge part of mine and my family’s life, and I’m so honored to be a part of it.

Cynthia and I had enjoyed a perfect pregnancy. Our little girl, Nina, was developing well and all signs were positive, including the results from our regular OB check up two days prior. On the morning of August 5, 2020, at 40 weeks and 1 day, Cynthia hadn’t felt Nina move as she usually did after breakfast, however, we were not too concerned as her contractions had become more frequent overnight. We took our packed hospital bag and headed to HOAG. During triage, the nurses and doctors were unable to find a heartbeat on the ultrasound and we could see no movement on the screen and thus our nightmare began. We had an emergency c-section and the doctor confirmed that some hours earlier, Nina’s umbilical cord had a torsion that ruptured the vessel of the cord at the bellybutton which stopped blood flow and oxygen. We were told this was a complete fluke, around a 1 in 10,000 chance, and due to the rarity of the event, there is no real data that can explain it. We were in a state of shock and to this day do not have an answer for what took our daughter away from us. We had the opportunity to hold Nina a total of 4 times between the hospital and the mortuary before scattering her ashes in the Pacific. Now all we can hold of her is a Memory Box which has her pictures and a lock of hair, amongst other precious items, given to us at the hospital by Forever Footprints. This is how we became familiar with the organization and have benefitted from the resources it has provided. We immediately wanted to get involved and support families suffering loss. It is our way of preserving Nina’s legacy so that she can continue to positively impact the lives of others and help them cope and hope.

JD brings a calm presence to the therapy room, creating a safe space where clients can see and share their stories without feeling shame or judgement. He collaborates with couples, families, and individuals to find health and growth, and discover both resiliency and peace as they address the challenging struggles of anxiety, trauma, grief and painful relationships.