A young woman is sharing her story of courage to help other mothers who have lost their children. She's launching a new effort to keep her son's memory alive and bring awareness to infant mortality.
Tonda Thompson recalls the moment she gave birth to her son Terrell.
"I remember what his cry sounded like when he came out...everything was perfect until the moment of delivery."
17 hours after a difficult delivery, Tonda found herself faced with losing all that she had created.
"At first I would share his picture on Facebook, saying, hey we need to fight infant mortality in our city. Before you knew it was people all over the world sharing his picture."
But she wanted to do more to honor her son's short life. She along with the United Way are organizing the first "Hanrunbee 5k run/walk." Thompson hopes it will get the community talking.
"There is a stigma around infant mortality. Most people say hey you lost a baby, go have another one."
There are many factors to consider when a child doesn't make it to its first birthday. In the City of Milwaukee, the infant mortality rate for African-American babies is three times higher than white babies.
Tonda says its been a hard three years since Terrell passed but she is slowly healing through helping others.
"This is something that I am committed to saving babies here and across the world."
