Our Story

Wade’s story really begins in February 2010. I went into labor at 30 weeks. While I was no stranger to early labor, I knew that this was way too early. And something I had been worried about from the beginning. Like I could feel it coming. I was admitted to the hospital and confined to bed except for bathroom breaks and showers.

Wade Thomas Barrett was born March 24, 2010 weighing in at 4lbs 14oz. He spent 2 weeks in the NICU and was discharged a healthy baby. 10 weeks later disaster struck…

Wade woke up the morning of June 24, 2010 happier than we had ever seen him. He was really starting to settle in to himself. Mere hours later I receive a call that would forever alter the course of our lives. Wade had been taken from the babysitter’s to the hospital. He wasn’t breathing. I made it in minutes, my husband beating me there. The staff told us he had passed away. They were calling it SIDS.

Sudden Infant Death Syndrome? Sure, we knew what it was, but it couldn’t have happened to us.

But it had. What came in the following weeks and months were decisions and feelings no parent should ever have to endure. A life made up of moments we wouldn’t wish upon our worst enemy.

But also something else. A sense of duty to keep this from happening to someone else. A chance to make this tragedy something bigger. Something positive.

With the help of family and friends we established Wade’s Ride in 2010. What has followed is the creation of the Wade Barrett Memorial Fund, the Halo Swaddle Program, and the Community Baby Shower.

Wade’s name is a household name in our small town. You see the shirts from previous events on any given day. I get message and pictures from parents I have never met. His impact is all over and we could not be more proud!

There was a nurse that commented on his name when he was born. She said “Wade Thomas Barrett, with a name like that he’s going to do something important in life.” She will never know how right she was.