Mom gives ‘bear hug’ to families who lose infants

By Beccah Hendrickson

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    NORTH WALES, Pennsylvania (WPVI) — Dola Spering’s heart to help her community comes from her own experience.

Her son, Jeremiah, was stillborn in 2008. The next year, she got pregnant again. Her son, Vincent, died of an infection at two weeks old.

“To have it happen twice, you can’t explain it. It’s the worst ever,” said Spering. “It can be very lonely and isolating. Even if you do have that support, grief has this way of making you feel that you’re the only one that feels this way.”

The North Wales mom didn’t want other parents or siblings, for that matter, to feel that grief alone, and she didn’t want them to leave the hospital empty-handed. That’s where ‘Project BEAR’ comes in.

“They hold the bear and they know that somebody else cares. And to be a part of that is amazing,” she said.

“To have it happen twice, you can’t explain it. It’s the worst ever,” said Spering. “It can be very lonely and isolating. Even if you do have that support, grief has this way of making you feel that you’re the only one that feels this way.”

The North Wales mom didn’t want other parents or siblings, for that matter, to feel that grief alone, and she didn’t want them to leave the hospital empty-handed. That’s where ‘Project BEAR’ comes in.

“They hold the bear and they know that somebody else cares. And to be a part of that is amazing,” she said.

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