International ‘Wave of Light’ Observed in Lower Providence

On the early evening of Oct. 15, a group of no more than 10 people stood in a tight circle, waiting for their turn to have their candle lit.

As the light passed from candle to candle, names were spoken.

Each name remembered a loved one lost during pregnancy or as an infant. When the circle of light was completed, the host spoke the names for those who could not attend the event.

In all, over 70 lost children were remembered that evening.

“One to six women will experience a pregnancy loss sometime in their life,” Angelique Chelton, the host of the candle lighting event, said. “We’re out to support parents and remember the lives of the children that mean so much to us.”

Chelton is a Lower Providence resident, who had twice experienced such a loss in 2004 and 2006.

She is also the owner of Hearthside Maternity Services, which sponsored and organized the candlelight event.

The candle lighting, which took place at 7 p.m. in the township’s Eagleville Park, was part of an international event called “Wave of Light.”

According to www.october15th.com, during this event, thousands of people around the world participated in similar candle-lightings in their respective time zones, effectively creating a wave of light. The candle-lightings are in recognition of Oct. 15 as Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day due to miscarriage, ectopic pregnancy, stillbirth or newborn death.

According to Chelton, the candle lighting in Eagleville Park was the first public observance of the Wave of Light event in Lower Providence.

“We are part of something big, something meaningful,” she said.

The www.october15th.com website states that in 1988, President Ronald Reagan declared October as National Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month. The site quotes Reagan, who explained why such awareness is necessary:

“When a child loses his parent, they are called an orphan. When a spouse loses her or his partner, they are called a widow or widower.

When parents lose their child, there isn’t a word to describe them.”

Chelton is a professional doula, or labor coach, and a certified lactation counselor, and has several other related certifications and national memberships. Last year, as the proprietor of Hearthside Maternity Services, she discovered the website www.stillbirthday.com, where she also became a professional volunteer as a bereavement doula and the site's director of Education & Training.

She explained that many people become awkward around discussing the subject of perinatal loss, resulting in such parents not being able to share their grief and receive a support system.

While she cited larger events, such as the Oct. 13 Philadelphia Walk to Remember, as evidence of growing awareness, the Wave of Light event also lets parents know that support is nearby.

“I think it’s to let people know they are not alone,” Jennifer Weinstein, a participant of the Wave of Light event, said.

Weinstein, along with several members of the Methacton Community Theater, made up the majority of the participants that evening.

After the names were spoken, and candles still burning, the Methacton Community Theater ended the ceremony by reciting various poems related to a parents’ loss and remembrance.

One of the poems recited, by an unknown author, goes as follows:

Forget me not

My little One

You have left us too soon

Though my body can no longer hold you

I hold you forever in my heart

As precious and beautiful as this flower caught in time

A mother’s love does not forget.

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For more information, visit www.HearthsideMaternityServices.com.