HOT PURSUIT
One of the services we provide in our newspaper is honoring loved ones through obituaries. And while I never like to see anyone die, one particularly broke my heart more than any other this week.
It involved the sudden death of Matthias Meester, the 11-week-old baby of Rev. Chris Meester and his wife, Rev. Laurel Meester. He serves Owatonna at Trinity Lutheran Church, and she serves Blooming Prairie at First Lutheran Church. It stopped me in my tracks when I initially heard about it last week and even more when the obituary came across my desk Monday morning. If something like this doesn’t bring you in tears, I don’t know what will.
There are really no words that can begin to describe the sudden loss of a person, especially when it involves a baby. I was taken back upon speaking to a woman in Blooming Prairie who had seen the baby just two days before he died. In her words, he looked just like a “perfectly normal 3-month-old.”
Matthias may have only been weeks old, but what he did in those few weeks was extraordinary. He brought so much love and joy to a family who cherished him and wanted nothing but the best for him. He loved to be rocked by family members. He got to enjoy a Friday pizza night with his 2-year-old sister. And he even got to see the North Shore of Lake Superior.
His parents will forever treasurer the smiles he brought to them.
The little boy died from sudden infant death syndrome or SIDS. The syndrome is the unexplained death of a baby, typically less than a year old, who is an apparently healthy baby. The cause of SIDS is unknown and can happen to any infant.
I have some personal experience with SIDS. In my years as a police officer, I handled an emergency call of a baby not breathing. Despite our best rescue efforts, the baby died right in front of us. What horror for any family to experience, just as I know the Meesters are going through right now.
The death rate for SIDS is at an all-time low. However, there are still about 3,500 sleep-related infant deaths that occur each year in the U.S. The American SIDS Institute (ASIDSI) believes it can find and eliminate the major causes of these deaths.
While we don’t know exactly what happened with Matthias, one theory is that most sleep-related deaths are caused from a combination of infant vulnerability and asphyxiating conditions and can be seen as existing on a continuum of highly vulnerable infant/safe environment to normal infant/highly asphyxiating environment, according to ASIDSI.
The Meesters have chosen to earmark any donations in honor of Matthias to the ASIDSI. The death of Matthias is intolerable. We can help the effort to make sure other families don’t experience the heartache that the Meesters are currently facing. Together we can end the tragedy of sudden infant death.
As pastors who care for the wellbeing of their parishioners, the Meesters now need the love and support of the communities they serve.
In a tough situation like this, it’s important to remember we all need to go in hot pursuit of making sure that no one travels alone.