The story of the One Wing Foundation is a story of loss, hope, perseverance, and remembrance. Founders, Holly Aldredge and Katie Schlieve, both experienced the stillbirth loss of their first children during the third trimester of their pregnancies. It was one of the most difficult, heart-wrenching, emotional situations either of them had ever dealt with. In the days, weeks and months following loss, they felt alone and disconnected from their surroundings. All around them, the world was continuing on and theirs had suddenly stopped. As a Parent of Loss, eventually you have to go back to work, back to your daily routines, but all the while you find that you are just going through the motions because you have experienced something that alters your core. Relationships with family, friends, coworkers, and neighbors can change and as you navigate life after loss, you learn very quickly how deafening the silence can be. 

 

After wrestling with grief for almost a month and a half, Katie and her mom sat down to lunch on Hudson’s due date, taking the day to help distract from the sadness. At that lunch, Katie’s mom gave her a small single angel wing that fit perfectly in the palm of her hand. Ann then showed her a bracelet she was wearing. The bracelet had an angel on it and the words "we are all angels with one wing, we must embrace each other to fly." Katie and Ann bought every single angel wing they could find and used this as something to give to other bereaved families with this quote. To them it meant community. That day they discussed how they could help other bereaved families, how they could do something to continue to give Hudson life and create a legacy of love. Coming from a fundraising background and a golf family, Katie thought a golf tournament, the Hudder Putter Classic, would be the most appropriate way to honor Hudson’s life.

 

Katie and Holly were put in touch by mutual friends and sat down together for the first time shortly after Hudson’s due date. They connected with one another about this new dark sisterhood they had both become members of and found solace in one another’s experiences, finding true understanding in a now isolating world. Losing a child changes a person. It carries a special type of pain that cannot be described, but only understood by those who have been there. They leaned on each other for support, advice, and grief sharing. In the midst of their grief, they started to talk to one another about their desire to do something more, to break the silence and stigma surrounding stillbirth and be a voice to advocate for pregnancy and infant loss. The two grew a friendship and began to share this passion that they both had to take what they’d been through and create a legacy for their children and all other angel babies.

 

In January 2016, the One Wing Foundation launched. As two bereaved families of stillbirth loss, we have come together to create a system of support, awareness, courage, connection, and community. Thank you for supporting us and for helping us honor all babies whose parents hold them in their hearts, rather than in their arms.