After becoming a stepmom in 2000 to Brandon and Matthew, Hope Lienau wanted to grow the young family she shared with husband Chris. Shortly after their marriage, they started their journey of expanding their family.  After suffering two miscarriages, Hope became pregnant and carried to term and delivered a healthy boy, Corbin (now 6), in 2003.  Wanting Corbin to have a sibling close to his age, they embarked on what they thought was their last pregnancy.  They quickly became pregnant with Collin, due to arrive in December 2005.

At 36 and ½ weeks pregnant, in November 2005, Hope received the unfortunate news that Collin’s heart was no longer beating.   After laboring all night, Collin Chamberlain Lienau was born, still.  He had died from a double nuchal cord accident, where the umbilical cord was wrapped around his neck twice.  Collin’s passing was extremely painful for the family, as their excitement had grown with Hope’s maternal belly. Collin was a part of the family in her heart, and Hope needed a way to remember him and to share that memory with her husband and other children.
 
The Greenville Hospital System University Medical Center (GHS) bereavement program along with her Labor and Delivery Nurses helped Hope and her family to create treasured keepsakes.
 
“We received a beautiful butterfly memory box that contains Collin’s birth hat, an angel birth gown, a soft hand made crocheted blanket, a mini scrapbook, pictures of Collin, a hand/foot print kit, baby hand/foot molds, a baby bracelet with Collin’s name, a sterling silver butterfly charm, a poem, and lock of his hair,” Hope said.
 
Hope was cautiously optimistic when she conceived again in March 2007.  This baby, too, was due Dec. 5, the same due date as Collin. On Nov. 11, while on a shopping trip, Hope’s stomach was accidentally run into by a shopping cart. She immediately went to the hospital and was monitored for 24 hours, and then allowed to return home. One day later she returned to the hospital where she delivered a beautiful healthy baby girl, Addison Faith. The same Labor and Delivery nurses that had delivered Collin in 2005 were scheduled and working when Addison was born on Nov. 13.  Not only was this birth healing for Hope and her husband, but also for the nurses who had helped preserve memories of Collin.
 
Since Collin’s death and birth, Hope has volunteered with Greenville Hospital System to help grieving families. In 2006, Hope and her mother, Betty Pharr, painted a butterfly mural in the Greenville Hospital System Bereavement room.  Hope was recently hired by Pediatrix, a medical group that performs newborn hearing screenings in the GHS mom-baby unit.
 
Greenville Hospital System has a bereavement program for unfortunate situations like the one Hope experienced. The program was developed to provide support to families who suffer the death of a child in the hospital. We provide keepsakes and memory boxes for parents and age-appropriate memory bags for siblings along with counsel and support. The program even supports the care staff associated with the family as many times grief is a difficulty they share with patients’ families.

Please click here and make a gift to help the patients, families, and nurses in Women's Services. 

For imformation on how you can get involved with the bereavement program, contact Gina Turcotte, Director of Women’s Programs in the Office of Philanthropy and Partnership, at (864) 797-7736 or gturcotte@ghs.org.